This is Entry 181: Happy New Years

First off since I'm not sure I'll be making a post tomorrow or on Saturday so Happy New Year! May your 2011 be as good or better then your 2010!

But the real reason why I'm making this post is to tell you all about another upcoming entry to the Blog. Yesterday, the 200th issue of the comic book series What If? was released out into the world. Why is this important? It's a 200th issue so that is something but why this is important to an upcoming blog entry is I happen to be a big fan of that series. I have a collected most of the series. I probably have most of the issues. In the back of Issue 200 there was an interview with the series creator & there were a few other comic book creators talking about their favorite issues from the series. This got me thinking about the series. About my favorite issues, the issues I thought were bad/stupid/odd/pointless/could have been better & some of the themes that I have noticed in my reading (there was one major theme I noticed but I'll get into that entry it's self).

This & along with whole bunch of stuff is coming in the new year. If I get around to everything I have planned: 2011 should be the Jazziest year ever for the blog!

The What If? retrospectacular should be up sometime in January (probably early January). The posting time frames for the rest of the stuff I have planned out (Really Cool Old Ads, Random Photos, The Hot List, Entry about Stan Lee, Entry 200, etc.) don't set posting dates as of yet. When I know what's going on you will too!

Until next time Happy New Year & as always Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 180: a Newish Holiday Carol

In this Holiday season I began to notice that there are a number of creepy holiday songs & that the word Santa & Satan are pretty much the same word just with the same letters mixed around. So, I started to think is there some song I could change to make it about Satan that was originally about Santa. I also didn't want to do a lot of work changing the lyrics around. So, I think I found that song! Here is Satan is coming for your Soul! (which was originally Santa Claus is coming to Town):

You better watch out, You better not cry
Better not pout I'm telling you why
Satan is coming for your Soul!

He's making a list and checking it twice;
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
Satan is coming for your Soul!

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

Oh! You better watch out!
You better not cry better not pout
I'm telling you why
Satan is coming for your Soul!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday everybody!

And as always: Stay Jazzy! :)

- Brian

This is Entry 179: Logo & Staying _______

Hello, everyone.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to say in this posting but I thought it was worth updating the Blog to give all you reader something new to read.

Over the last couple of weeks/months, I've been thinking that this blog needs a logo. Something that up at the top of the Blog that looks all spiffy keen! I have settled on a design for said logo & now it's just to get it all ready for posting. I'm not sure if I could make a the logo look good or a get someone else to make it look good for me. I sorting of thinking of premiering the Logo in Entry 200. That's one of the ideas I have for what's going to happen for Entry 200. I haven't said much about what going to be in Entry 200 basically because people won't be disappointed if something isn't there. :)

Recently I been seeing a few advertisements using a phrase similar to one used here on the Blog. The Cooking Channel, Diet Coke & Walgreens all have ads that have the tag line of Stay *some word*. Now none have used Stay Jazzy (well, Walgreens would like you to Stay Jolly) & I doubt that my sign off phrase had anything to do with this recent trend in ads. But, every time I see one of this ads I keep thinking of my sign off phrase. I also keep thinking about that I've never defined what someone was to exactly "Stay Jazzy". All this ads have terms that kind easily be thought of what they mean by the viewer but what does Jazzy mean? I don't know. I've never really thought about. I just thought it sound cool & was a whole lot better then just "Goodbye" or any other like term.

EDIT: I saw a Beer commercial last night that would like you to Stay Thirsty. :)

I've also been thinking of the frequency of my posting here on the Blog. Most of the time I will go for a week or more between postings. I also never gotten over 10 posts in a month & on average most months only get 4 posts in them. This is the 2nd post for the month & there is mostly going to be a year end posting (which mostly only be me saying Happy New Year). I've also thought about doing a new post for every day in January! But then started to think about all that might get in the way of that. So, the thought was 6 of the 7 days of the week so that would be 26 posts that month. Then I thought about just doing one for Monday thru Friday which would make it 21 posts for the month. But then I thought of "Do I have enough stuff for that many posts?" My answer was maybe but I wasn't sure I could be that organized. If I did this a number of the posts wouldn't be not all that interesting (not sure my post are all that interesting anyways). But after all that thought process I am sort of committing myself to be more frequent with my posts. Once or twice a week would be fine (which would get me 4 to 8 posts a month).

In the new year: I'll be starting Really Cool Old Ads, Random Photos back up. I'll most likely get The Hot List out & probably a few other things. Along with the Entry 200!

Until next posting I would you like you to all Stay Jazzy!

Oh!

Also Merry Christmas if you celebrate that, if not continue to Stay Jazzy! :)

- Brian

This is Entry 178: I got called out!

So, on friday when I got on to my trusty kind of crusty but not rusty computer I had a post to my wall over on Facebook. It was from one of the people who have decided to become "followers" of this here Blog. He said:

So I started following your blog anxiously awaiting a new post to read and comment on for two and a half weeks now. And nothing!!

Which I responded that He had not replied to said post from 2 & half weeks, now probably is 3 weeks past. As you can see that that post was about stuff I have in the works for the blog so I could say I was busy but to get down to the nitty gritty: I hadn't updated the Blog because I was Lazy.

This 3 Blog is into it's 3rd year & this is the first I think someone has ever asked why I hadn't updated the Blog in awhile. I think most people hadn't cared to asked. I had thought about that I should update it & was going to but was unsure of what to update it with so this is what you get. :) As I said with him: More stuff is coming soon-ish. There will most likely be another post or two before the year is over.

In other posting news: I've noticed that I've gotten a few replies recently from people who say they like my stuff. But then they ask me to contact them about something. I'd think about responding if I had a way of doing so! Most of these comments are from "Anonymous" & in their replies they don't give any sort of contact info so I don't know how they expect me to reply to them.

Well, that's what I got for you now. Until next posting I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This Is Entry 177: Further Coming Attractions

This post yet another update on stuff that is coming to this here ol' Blog, along with Random Photos, Really Cool Old Ads & The Hot List, here are some other stuff to look forward to:

A Moment of Awesome: With most of the other stuff I've named for the Blog the name is somewhat self explanatory. With this I will give the viewers a moment of something I think is awesome. Why viewers & not readers? Well....

LFW TV: For awhile I've toyed with the idea of doing filmed segments for the Blog. The idea originally started out as a monthly web series, things were prepared for such a thing (like me buying a video camera among other less expensive things) but as time went on my ideas were bigger then my ability so the series idea has been done away with/devolved. It's being replaced with a more general umbrella idea called LFW TV, the Moment of Awesome thing would be under this umbrella as with any other filmed stuff I'd do. There wouldn't be any real schedule for LFW TV but there are some other ideas for what would come out as part of this.

A more text based upcoming post is one about Stan Lee, this is something I've been thinking about recently. It won't be a post about "The Man" himself (a recap of career, etc.) but just some thoughts about about my feeling regarding him & some other connected to him. When I'll put this up? I don't know.

TWe are about a little over 20 entries until Entry 200 which most likely will happen some time early next year. Not exactly sure what I'll do for that post but it will be something special.

until time: Stay Jazzy, Everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 176: Somebody Save me!

This time I'll be talking about:



And it's last season. After 10 season they are closing up shop so this season must the best season ever, right?

Well, no. At least not to me anyways. I stopped being a regular viewer of the shows a few seasons ago. Why? I just lost interest but I'd check in from time to time to see what was going on. But I thought since it was the last season I'd watch it more often to see how the close everything out. Not sure I like how they are doing things.

One thing that I've been seeing is they are bringing more & more recognizable names. Not in the terms of actors but in names of characters. why just the names? Well, I don't recognize those characters as the ones from the comics. Now I know Smallville does have it's own continuity so they can't be how they are exactly in the comics. But half of the time the character is so changed to fit into Smallville's continuity that they don't seems like as the character, just someone with their name.

2 people they have gotten right is Lois Lane & Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) mostly because they gave them more then one episode appearances & then guest spots later on. Kara (Supergirl) was good since she didn't seem to change that much. The best translation might be the Legion of Super Heroes (but they might of been because Geoff John had a hand in that episode). The stuff with Brainiac was pretty good also but then they developed the character over a series of appearances.

The other people that have shown up I didn't have enough time to establish a character before they were never seen again. (I would have liked to see more with Black Canary, you do have Green Arrow on your show!). Last season, they introduced the Justice Society which I thought was cool (again with Johns) but I wanted more & I doubt I'll get more (They had some more with Hawkman this season but that's probably all I get from that group).

With this season there seemed to be another characters from the comics plopped into the show: Mera, The Suicide Squad, Slade Wilson, Cat Grant to name a few. I heard rumors of Booster Gold & Blue Beetle showing up, too! But I'd rather not see people from the comics then see lesser versions of the characters show up.

Another thing I not too keen on is I feel like they are trying to do too much. They know it's the last season so they are trying to do everything they ever wanted to do with the show. But too many story lines ruin a show. Also, I would really like them to stop beating me over the head with the whole "Clark is unsure of himself & is afraid is going to screw up something" subplot. I thought this was already covered in earlier seasons. I know why they are doing this but I wish they were handling it in a different way.

Smallville is not the show it started out as. It only has 1 cast member from the 1st season still on season 10 (That's Tom Welling, who plays Clark Kent but then you can't have a show without him).Over the last decade the show has been good, been ok & been bad. This last season is turning out for me to be ok with a leaning towards bad. But It's not over it might turn out to be ok with a leaning towards good. We'll just have to see how the series ends.

Until next time, Stay Jazzy everybody!

-Brian

This is Entry 175: Batman & Captain America

As I've been thinking of Batman lately, I've started to think about how much he & another comic book character have in common. That character is Captain America.

- Both were created & first published during the early 20th century (Batman in 1939, Cap in 1941).
- Both have and/or had teenage boys as Sidekicks (Robin & Bucky).
- Both have had sidekicks that had seemingly died in explosions only to have them return years later alive as enemies (Jason Todd as The Red Hood, Bucky as the Winter Solider). There is a difference here: Bucky came back to side of good, Jason has not.
- Both have recently seemingly died themselves but didn't & it was revealed that their "deaths' had something to due with time travel.
- After their "deaths", their original sidekicks stepped & took on the role their mentor had held (Dick Grayson became Batman, Bucky became Captain America). When the original came back, neither of them had the person give up the role & went on to create a similar role from themselves (Bruce Wayne is now maybe the Batman of the World & Steve Rogers is known as Captain Rogers).
- Both have have last names that could be first names (Wayne & with Cap if you took off a letter: Roger).
- Both use to carry guns during the early part of their careers but don't anymore.
- Both are expertly trained fighters.

About this time in my thought process It sort of broke down into minor comparisons but there was few I thought were interesting. If I think of any more interesting comparisons between I post them.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 174: The Return of RCOA!

As mentioned in Entry 171, I lost a chunk of my files when my computer decided to crap out on me & among those files were the Ads' I had scanned in for my Really Cool Old Ads project. Today I started in the re-scanning process.

As I've probably said before the Really Cool Old Ads project is me going through my comics & find ad's I think are really cool & old. :) Most of these ads will be coming from the Mid 1960's & up to the Mid 1990's. I've seen a distinct drop off of really cool ads in Comics during the late 1990's & in to this present decade. But if I find any ads' that I think are cool I'd post them, too.

Many of the ads I've found can be divided into a few different subcategories: Toy Ads, Video Game Ads, TV Ads, Hostess Ads, Mail Order Ads, Public Service Announcements, Marvel House Ads & DC House Ads. A "House Ad" is an ad made by the company (Marvel & DC) to advertise their only products (upcoming comics most often).

I'll most likely begin posting these Ads in the next months barring an unforeseen events.

Until next time, Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 173: More Batman!

So, this is going to be another Bat-Centric post. If don't like it, well... tough cookies!

This last Wednesday I read the concluded chapter of "The Return of Bruce Wayne" which seems kind of redundant since we already know he's return & had been running around doing stuff. This issue only fills in the gap of who the heck do he actually get back.

Well, he got back & I thought "Huh?" But then was my reaction to end of Final Crisis which was written by Grant Morrison, seen here making sure you know Superman has a crotch:


This picture has nothing to do with what I'm talking about but it's odd photo of Grant Morrison (He's the bald one) I found on the Internet.

Now thinking about both series I come to another comparison that there is a part of the story gone (Now Wayne's return, this might be partly my fault since his return was also partly chronicled in other Bat Books (Batman & Robin being one of those books) that I didn't read but I don't think was the problem with FC I just think with that book the missing part of that series was in Morrison's head.

Now there might be a 3rd comparison or it just might be an off shoot of my first comparison: the book might be on a higher thinking plane. I found this with a number of Morrisons' more recent works. They seem to have some concept were you need to do some deep thinking about concepts to fully get what's going on.

I tried to explain what happen in the Return of Bruce Wayne #6 to my dad. Now I didn't completely understand the book but I thought I could explain what happened but not really why. My dad didn't under what happened, he thought it was just confusing.

That might be the best way to explain Morrison's writing: Confusing. Now are his books bad because they are confusing? No. At least they are getting you to think about stuff. They are bad comics that just leave you confused & all you can think about is how bad the comic you just read is & nothing beyond that. Confusing can be good & lead you to something more which in Comic Books that might lead you to buying more comic books. :)

That's all I go for this time. Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody.

- Brian

This is Entry 172: Holy Crap, Bat-Man!

Yeah, I went old school with the name, that's just how I roll. :)

But this post is about the Dark Knight Detective: Batman & how I've become burnt out on reading about him.

Going back a years or two, I started to read more Batman related titles, starting off with the whole "Battle for the Cowl" stuff which I sort of found pointless. Everyone knew that Dick Grayson was going to become the new Batman we didn't need the mini-series. We didn't need the tie-in books even thought I did like a number of them. I think the story could have been a 2, 3 part story line in one of the Bat Books. Then once BFTC was over a whole bunch of Bat Books were launched, I've read a number of them.

So, here we are again: more mini series. "Bruce Wayne: The Return" was good but kind of slow. "The Road Home" mini-series was pointless. It was put out out of order (Part 2 came out a week before Part 1 did.) I thought most of the stuff said in those books could have been down in the characters' own books. Sure, some of them don't have books so put out a one-shot book. Now with Bruce Wayne back (How exactly? I don't know, the story that told of his return isn't finished yet) & there will now be the "Batman Inc." stuff with a bunch more Bat Books coming out. Will I buy them? Not really. I might buy 1 or 2 of the half dozen that are on their way. I'm most likely give the new books I once over at the store & might wait to see what happens in the books. I've thinking of dropping some of the Bat Books I already read.

This a feeling not just for Bat Books, I'm thinking at the new year dropping some of the books I buy. Most for the reason they don't interest me anymore. Also, I need to cut back on my spending.

*Sigh*

I'm just kind of burnt out. I don't want to feel like I need to buy 8 books to just to know the whole darn story line. I should be able to get the full story in the one book I read & if I read the other books it should enhance what I have already read, not make me feel like I missed something since I haven't been reading a book.

I was getting burnt out on the Superman books after all "World of New Krypton" stuff but the books have now split off & I don't fell I need to read everything. I doubt the Bat Books will be doing that any time soon.

We'll see how it'll go over the next couple of months.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 171: Computer Problems

Happy Mid-Term Elections everybody! Hope everyone voted because if you didn't vote, you shouldn't be able to complain about what happens as a result. :)

This is just quick post to tell you all about what's happening with the Blog. I've recently been having some problems with my computer. Many thing where tried but in the end it came down to having the hard drive replaced. So, my hard drive was all bright shiny & new! It was no longer cluttered up with all those silly files! wait... that might've been a bad thing & it was, sort of. But before it all went to heck in a hand basket, files from the computer were backed up on 2 external hard drives. So, I didn't think I had lost anything & everything would go back to normal. I was wrong: when thing were reloading my computer not all files were saved. At least not all the files were saved on one of the external hard drives. One of the hard drives is locked & we don't know how to unlock it so my other files might be there & they might not be: I don't know.

So, what does these means for the Blog?

The 20 some odd "Random Photos" & the 70 some odd "Really Cool Old Ads" I had scanned in ready to go were among the items not found. :( So, it will not take me longer to get those up for you to see. You''ll eventually see those things just later then I had hoped.

Until next time I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 170: The Marvel Food & Deli

Recently, I randomly found this place.



The place was closed & there was a fence around it. :( So, I don't what they sold. Also, I doubt the store had anything to do with Marvel Comics but it's fun to think what could have been in some alternate dimension.

Also, this might be a Random Photo but I don't consider to be part of the Random Photo series.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 169: Coming Attractions!

So, this post is to give you an update on stuff is coming to soon to this Blog!

Really Cool Old Ads!: I got over 70 ads scanned in & I'm not even deep into my collection. This project will most likely be an on going thing. I've got a whole lot more comics to go through & of course I'll be buying more comics so it's an never ending circle! What you'll be seeing is Ad's from the Mid 1960's to the Early 1990's.

Random Photos: this project has an end since I haven't gotten anymore random photos since the one's I've scanned in. There around 30 photos.

These 2 projects will start rolling out when I figure out in what order I want to do them in. RP is less a problem then RCOA is since I've started to notices sets of ads & am wondering if I should do special set postings (Multiple ads, 1 post) or just a special month of posts (1 ad per post for a few weeks).

Another project in the works is The Hot List. Right now my max number is 70. I've got about 65 people on the list. I've started to get really picky on who is on the list. There are some people I could just put on the list to get it to 70 but want to make it a list that I would feel good about sharing with you all. This will be put out once the list is finished & then I'm not sure how I want to do (1 per post, 5, per post or 10 per post). I guess it all depends on how long I want to drag it out. :)

There are also other projects that are in the works & when they are in more the final stages they'll be talked about here. Also, I was thinking about these entries & I'll soon be at Entry 200. I did something kind of special for 100 & I'd like to do something special for 200. Now sure what it at the moment but it'll be something I'll be thinking about.

Until next we meet: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 168: Hip Hop History with Jimmy & Justin!

Last Night on Last Night with Jimmy Fallon: Jimmy, Justin Timberlake & the Roots took a musical trip through Hip-Hip History! How was it? Watch the video to find out.



I could name about half to 3/4th of the songs they used. This also marks the 2nd time i've posted a video where the song "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z was used. :) Also, things like this is why I think Late Night is really cool. He & the show has done some really cool stuff so when I stay up late at night I'm going to see something cool and/or funny. Speaking of songs: There is a song by Jimmy, Amy Poehler & Rashida Jones that pretty cool, too. I think would also be on the Late Night section of NBC.com.

So, until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 167: Jet City 2010 Part 2

PICTURES!


Sign out on the sidewalk in front of the Show. (I also have picture of a sign on the building but this one came out better).


The Line before the Show which was in the same building as the Northwest Ballet. So, I saw lots of girls going to ballet practice & lots of guys going to buy comics. :)
The Line continues down a short flight of stairs.


Left side of the Hall.


Center part of the Hall.


Right side of the Hall.


Cheryl (as X-23), Elisa (as Silk Spectre II) & Abraham (as The Man in the Red Shirt)
Also, after taking this photo it was noted that Cheryl didn't mean to be giving me "The Finger", it just happened. :)


Abraham (as The Man in the Red Shirt) talking to AJ (as The Girl with the Wonder Woman tattoo).
Wonder Woman tattoo not shown. But It does look like AJ is about to use her laser vision on Abraham which she totally has. :)


Tusken Raider Head.


My Comic Book Haul.
About half to Three Fourths of this stuff was from the Fifty Cent boxes.

I also tried to take a picture of this guy with a this Turtle Shell backpack but the picture is too dark to see anything. If I can fix the photo, I'll post it.

But until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

-Brian.

This is Entry 166: Jet City 2010

So, I went to the Jet City Comic Show today. :)

The location was a bit small but it was the Show's first year. But It was bigger then some of the other small conventions I've been, too. Saw a number of the same vendors I've seen at other local shows.

Before the show, I was talking with a few different friends about them coming to the show & most of the people I talked to came which was cool. 2 of them even dressed up in costumes. :)

I've got some pictures I'll post soon. Didn't shot much video, I might use it in an idea I have (might not). I got a bunch of comics, it was a nice haul but more on that later on. :)

Would I got to Jet City Comic Show 2011: sure. There is always Comics to buy. :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 165: Jet City Prologue

Tomorrow is:



Look for are recap of the events of the show, Photos from the Show & maybe even a Video from the Show this weekend (Maybe) but definitely next week!

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 164: Seattle!

A local radio station were so often plays this song which I guess makes since because we are... in Seattle!

---------------

Lyrics:
The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle
And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle
Like a beautiful child, growing up, free an' wild
Full of hopes an' full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears
Full of dreams to last the years, in Seattle
. . . in Seattle!

When it's time to leave your home and your loved ones
It's the hardest thing a boy can ever do
An' you pray that you will find
someone warm an' sweet an' kind
But you're not sure what's waiting there for you!

The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle
And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle
Like a beautiful child, growing up, free an' wild
Full of hopes an' full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears
Full of dreams to last the years, in Seattle
. . . in Seattle!



When you find your own true love, you will know it
By her smile, by the look in her eye
Scent of pine trees in the air, never knew a day so fair
It makes you feel so proud that you could cry!

The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle
And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle
Like a beautiful child, growing up, free an' wild
Full of hopes an' full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears
Full of dreams to last the years, in Seattle
. . . in Seattle!

In Seattle . . . in Seattle . . . in Seattle!

This is Entry 163: Emerald City 2010 part 2

So, I prep for the Jet City Comic Show, I was thinking back about 6 months to Emerald City ComicCon 2010. I also thought that I never posted any of the photos from the event here (some are up elsewhere on the Interwebs). A note about the photos, some are a bit blurry.


It's Black Cat just hanging out with a friend out in front of the Convention.


Michelangelo, The Scarecrow & The Cobra Commander all wonder through the Convention.


It's Doctor Strange! He's probably explaining what the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth are or maybe what it's like to fight Dormammu. But then he might be talking about something else completely (could be about the wallet he's holding). :)


Doctor Doom stops to pose with some children.


At the Green Lantern panel, Guy Gardner ask writer Geoff Johns a question. Seated next to him is Artist Doug Menke. (Plus, who know Mario & Luigi were Green Lantern fans?)


Also, at the Green Lantern panel: Writer Mark Waid.


A Huttlet is being carried around the Convention & seem to be having a fun time.


At the Mondo Marvel Panel, from the left: Writer Paul Tobin, Writer Jeff Parker, *Don't Know*, *Don't Know*, Writer Joe Kelly (I think), Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment Joe Quesada, *Can't really tell*, Writer Ed Brubaker, Writer Brian Michael Bendis & Writer Matt Fraction.


You meet all sorts of people at the Conventions. Here I am with a Jawa.


Here is a Stromtrooper posing with Robin.


3 Sci-Fi franchises all collide in one photo!

In little under a week I should have photos from Jet City.

Until next posting, I want you all to as always: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 162: Stats!

Today I found out a new feature Blogger has: It can now give me stats!

As of when I writing this, my Blog have received 1,563 page views (and here I thought no one was looking). My most popular entry to view is Entry 23 with 124 page views. Now the content really anything out of the ordinary, I'm review some comics I read. I think why all the page view is there is an image of the current Captain America as part of that entry.

Speaking of page views in June of this year I have 0 page views & in July I had 775 page views. Huh? I don't know why. But in August I had 509 & so far this month I had 282. Now Blogger doesn't show me anything from before May of this year on their graph (May also had 0 page views). So, apparently in the last few months I've become somewhat popular on the Internet. :)

So, who is looking at my Blog? Well, according to the data a typical LFW reader is from the U.S. & using the Internet Explorer browser on their Windows computer.

Some other Info:

I've been viewed in Canada 87 times, The Netherlands 84 times, the UK 76 times, Brazil 63 times, France 37 times, Mexico 33, South Korea 30 times, Russia 23 times & China 20 times. In the US I've been viewed 869 times.

I've been viewed on these Browsers: Internet Explorer (47%), Firefox (23%), Safari (18%), Chrome (5%), Opera (3%) & with <1% are Java, Jakarta Commons-HttpClient, lolifox & via translate.google.com The Operating Systems these people are using are: Windows (77%), Macintosh (19%), Unix (2%) & with <1% are an iPod, a Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo DSi, an iPhone, Linux & a PlayStation Portable. Most people have found my Blog via a Google Search & my highest search term is "Cat Grant" with most likely takes you to Entry 42 where I posted a page from Action Comics #866 where you see Miss Grant presented in all her bustiness.

I should thank Jay Boaz of It's What I know for his Blog is my all time highest referring URL. 13 people from his Blog have come over & looked at something here.

Just some info I thought was interesting. So, until next time: Stay Jazzy Everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 161: Con Prologue

Before I get into what this post is about, as I logged into Blogger to I noticed that I have gained a 4th follower. So, a hardy Living for Wednesday welcome to Calandreya who according to her vague profile is a female from "the Midwest". She joins RÁDIO WEB BLOG (a blog from Brazil), scientist from India (who I think was my first follower) & my friend Abraham.

So enough of that tangent. What is this post actually about? Well, like many of the entries here: Comic Books. In about a week or so there is a Convention happening:



This is the first year it's happening. This convention is sort a sister/brother/cousin/some sort of family member of the Emerald City ComicCon since a few people from that Con also are putting this one on. From Jet City's own website, this Con's purpose is:

... to fill in the void for a quality one-day show for fans and dealers. A show that will be fun and entertaining for the fans, where they will have time to browse all the dealer tables or visit with their favorite creators.

I'm not sure I like the term "quality" as attributed to one-day comic shows since I've been to a number of one day shows that I think are of "quality". I think they are going to something larger to then those shows. Most of the one day shows I've been to don't have panels, special guests & are most often held in smaller meeting places (Most of the ones I've recently been to have been in an Elementary School Gym).

I've known this Con was a coming for time & was wavering on if I'd attend or not. In thinking about it I came upon an idea. Something I had never done before! I'm going to go with a group. I've contacted a small group of my Seattle friends on the Facebook & most are up for going to the Con. Some are even going to come in Costume!

So, think of this post as a Prologue to my review of this upcoming Convention. There will most likely be photos taken at said event. There might even be some video take. I attempted to do some filming at ECCC 2010 but pretty much forgot about the camera during the day. I had like 2 minute max of footage, I was there for a few hours. :) So, I hope to maybe redeem myself this time. But I might do the same thing & forget about the camera because I'm just geeking out.

Speaking of Cons: In Entry 74, I give my Guide to attending to Conventions. I'll most like make some changes to it since I've have some experience with attending a Convention with a group.

So, until next: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 160: Coming Attractions!

So, what I originally had planned for this post was to give a fall TV preview of what I'll be watching, which new shows I'll be checking out, etc. I had gathered together some info regarding the fall season & then when I thought II'd make the post today since the upcoming week is when the fall season starts. I thought "screw it!" Their really isn't anything that I'm truly looking forward to seeing & there aren't a lot of the old returning shows that I really want to talk about . So, consider this my Anti-Fall TV preview post! :)

I will give you a preview of stuff that is forth coming for this here Blog:
- More Random Photos & Really Cool Old Ads are forth coming.
- I'm going to a convention at the end of September so there will be at least one post about that. Maybe even a video. Probably a photo or two. Also, I'm going with a group friends so that's a friend for me.
- something I talked about doing last year & still haven't done: The Hot List, basically my version of the Maxim HOT 100. I don't have a 100 woman, I've got about 70 or so. I started the list because I didn't like the list Maxim was putting out. They were ignoring a lot of hot women. So, I've slowly built up the list & changed it a few times. I know Maxim ranks them by number, I don;t think I'll do that. Right now I have alphabetized & that is most likely how I'll post them. Look for this list to happen sometime.

There a few other things I've got ideas for that may or may not make their way to being posts. Look for those that do sometime later. :)

Until the next posting, Stay Jazzy, everybody.

- Brian

This is Entry 159: Really Cool Old Ads #1

In Entry 150, I posted the first entry in a new segment for the Blog: Random Photos & this entry to tell you about another new segment for the blog. It's going to be called Really Cool Old Ads!

What will it involve? Well... really cool old ads. :) Now these ads will be culled from comic book collection which spans about 50 years of comics (from the 1960's to the present). Most of the the ads that I think are really cool & old come from the comics of the '60's, '70's, '80's & the early to mid '90's. Past that time the ad's become more generic (ads you could see in any magazine) & are a little too current. But if there are current ads I think that are worth mentioning (like the Wonder Woman ads) I'd put them up (but probably not as part of RCOA).

Over the last couple of days I've been going over some of my old comics & looking for ad's I want to share with you all. I've got a nice pile (well, 2 piles) of comics. A number of comics had multiple cool ads in them. I'm not even a chunk of the way through my collection & I've only been looking at some DC Comics. I haven't started in on any Marvel books.

How I'll post them is with the Ad & the year is came from. If I think what comic book it came is important/interesting I'll say that too. Most like I'll some comments about what makes the Ad is Really Cool. Why it's old should be evident. :)

To start us off, I present to you all an Ad I already have scanned in & I like to call it Land Ship:



I scanned this ad in awhile so I don't exactly remember what year it is from. I think it is from the 1960's & I think it was from a DC comic. I like this ad for one phrase "Land Ship". It just so odd. Why would you call a Library that? In the 1960's it may have been ok for young boys to wonder the harbor without a parent or guardian & then go to the Library with grizzled old sea captains but today in 2010 it might be slightly suspect. His land ship might have been a windowless van! :) In the1960's it might of also been ok to smoke in a public library.

Also looking at this I realized my scan is a bit small & kind of hard to read: I think i'll find Land Ship again, scan & post a larger copy later. It deserves to be read in all it's glory!

Until next: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 158: brian on the Aisle #7.5

It's another installment of Brian on the Aisle! Well, not really. It's more of I have some more thoughts about the last movie I saw: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World & I didn't feel like editing the last post.

Over the last couple of days I've been thinking about the film. The "review" I was posted was very shortly after seeing it, like a half hour after seeing said film. Over the weekend I've been thinking about it further. After the initial "Man, that's was awesome!" has worn off I thought more about what did I actually see. Now I will say this the film is still good & worth seeing. There is some wonderful visuals, some good music & a good time still seemed to be had by all! But, thinking about the movie a lot of things just seem to happen & their isn't much depth to it. You don't really get to know anyone in the film. Your given enough to make them seem like real people but you don't get much:

"Who's that?"

"Oh, That's Kim. She & Scott use to date. They went high School together. She is the drummer in Sex Bob-ombs with Scott"

"Ok. How did they break up? Is she dating anyone currently?"

"Uh....."

It's like that with most of the characters. You get a few short sentences with minor details of who the person in relation to someone else (most often the people being Scott Pilgrim or Ramona Flowers). Now this might just be the Movie & their might be more info in the books (which I have not read) about the characters but this a Movie review & I'm basing my comments solely on the Movie I saw. Characters come in, have their scene(s) & then leave. The movie doesn't really even go into why the League of Evil Ex's are even evil. Where they always evil or did they become evil after their break up with Ramona? If that's true, then doesn't that make Ramona evil herself?

Maybe I've just been thinking about this movie to much. I did enjoy seeing it. I didn't get all the reference, a number of the Video Game ones probably went right over my head. And I still stand by rating but it might be a lower 4 then it was originally. It's still a high 4 but probably not as high as it was last friday night/early saturday morning.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy Everyone.

- Brian

This is Entry 157: Brian on the Aisle #7

It's another installment of Brian on the Aisle! This time I went to see Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Leading up to this movie coming out everything I saw about about this movie made me want to see it more. Now this could either lead up to an awesome movie or a really crappy movie who shows all the good parts before you get in the theater. Scott Pilgrim is the former.

Confession time: I haven't really read the books the movie is based off of. I read the first book, a friend had it. It was good but I didn't really feel the need to read the rest of the books. Not sure I will. Maybe if they putt all the 6 books together in one big book? A Scott Pilgrim Omnibus! In Color!

But getting back to the movie: It was Awesome. Dare I say Pretty Super Cool Awesome? Yes, I shall: It was Pretty Super Cool Awesome! I'm not sure how to explain the movie it's like if a Video Game, a Music Video & Movie all had a threesome which lead to the birth of this movie, This awesome, awesome movie baby. There is so much to see in the movie & I doubt I caught all there is to see. This a movie definitely worth a second viewing. Possibly a third or a fourth. I hardily look forward to seeing what's going to be on the DVD (hopefully some of the stuff from the website).

I liked that there wasn't all that many "Big Name" people in the movie. Sure, Michael Sera (who plays Scott Pilgrim) is a Big Name but your main character should be a Big Name person. But most of the rest of the principal cast are mostly all known some how but aren't truly those Big Name people. Everyone did a superb job in roles. No one I thought was miscast in their role.

A great film. Wonderful visuals. Some good music. A good time seemed to be had by all!

So, what do I give this film: 4 Power Ups... out of Five!

BONUS CONTENT!

- Favorite comment heard pre-movie: "Why did you text me at 9:30 in the morning? It's summer, no one is up that early!"
- M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie coming out. When he name came on screen during the trailer laughter broke out in the theater. After it died down a voice was heard saying "Hey, Give it chance." which caused more laughter. Then some commented we should remember what he did to Avatar, a reference to the Last Airbender movie. As for the rest of the trailer no one really caught my eye as "I got to go see this movie!"
- In other news before the Movie: I had Sushi! And it was served on a conveyor belt!

So, until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 156: Blog turns 3

Today, 3 years ago I started this Blog! Woot to that!

It is also the 219th day of the year (or 220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 146 days remaining until the end of the year. It's also considered to be halfway through its summer (Or halfway through the winter if you live south of the equator). Also, Last year at this time I had made 101 posts which means at my current rate of posts I should have over 200 posts by next year's birthday. :)

What else happened today in History:
2008: Georgia launches a military offensive against South Ossetia to counter the alleged Russian invasion, starting the South Ossetia War.
2007: Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks baseball great Hank Aaron's record by hitting his 756th home run.
1990: Desert Shield begins. U.S. deploys troops to Saudi Arabia.
1976: Viking 2 enters orbit around Mars.
1976: Scientists in Pasadena, California, announce Viking I found strongest indications to date of possible life on Mars.
1974: Philippe Petit walks tightrope strung between twin towers.
1970: 1st computer chess tournament.
1970: WDHN TV channel 18 in Dothan, AL (ABC) begins broadcasting.
1965: The infamous first party between Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and motorcycle gang the Hells Angels takes place at Kesey's estate in La Honda, California introducing psychedelics to the gang world and forever linking the hippie movement to the Hell's Angels.
1964: Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest tree, is cut down.
1964: Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving US President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
1963: Jacqueline Kennedy becomes 1st lady to give birth since Mrs. Cleveland.
1961: Cosmonaut Gherman Titov circles Earth for a full day in Vostok 2.
1959: The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design and is still in use
1959: Explorer 6 transmits 1st TV photo of Earth from space.
1957: U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1956: Boston Red Sox fine Ted Williams $5,000 for spitting at Boston fans.
1955: KSTF TV channel 10 in Scottsbluff-Gering, NB (CBS/NBC) begins.
1954: Charles Mahoney becomes 1st U.S. black to serve as a full UN delegate.
1944: IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
1942: 1st American offensive in Pacific in WWII, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
1940: Largest amount paid for a stamp ($45,000 for 1 cent 1856 British Guiana).
1930: The last lynching in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana. Two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.
1927: The Peace Bridge between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York is dedicated.
1909: U.S. issues 1st Lincoln penny.
1820: 1st potatoes planted in Hawaii
1794: George Washington invokes the Militia Law of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
1791: United States troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
1789: Congress creates Department of War and Lighthouse Service.
1782: George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
1679: The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the south-eastern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
1606: The first documented performance of Macbeth, at the Great Hall at Hampton Court.
1498: Columbus arrives in Caribbean.
936: Coronation of King Otto I of Germany.

Who was born today:
1987: Hollis Leroy Crapo, my friend.
1975: Charlize Theron, Actress.
1960: David Duchovny, Actor.
1958: Bruce Dickinson, Singer for Iron Maiden.
1955: Greg Nickels, Former Mayor of Seattle.
1955: Wayne Knight, Actor. (Newman!)
1942: B. J. Thomas, Singer.
1942: Garrison Keillor, American writer & radio host [Prairie Home Companion]
1928: Amazing [James] Randi, Skeptic Magician.
1927: Carl Switzer, Actor [Alfalfa].
1926: Stan Freberg, Satirist/Ad Executive/Cartoon Voice.
1886: Louis Hazeltine, Inventor of the neutrodyne circuit which makes radio possible.
1779: Carl Ritter, cofounder of modern science of geography.
1751: Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange.

At the other of the spectrum, Who died today:
2009: Mike Seeger, American folk musician, Age: 76.
1997: Vincent Gulliver, Britain's oldest man, Age: 109.
1957: Oliver Hardy, comedian of Laurel and Hardy fame. Age: 65.
1917: Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning, first pilot to land his aircraft on a moving ship. Age: 25.
1033: Frederick II, duke of Upper Lorraine.

For a Birthday present to all you out there: Here is a funny interview Warren "The Ape" Demontague did on G4's Attack of the Show.

Game Reviews - E3 2011 - Movies and TV

As always: Stay Jazzy.

- Brian

This is Entry 155: Wonder Woman's New Outfit #4

It's another week & another post about Wonder Woman!

Back in Entry 151 I posted an ad for Wonder Woman & wondered why she wasn't wearing her new costume like the one see in Issue 600 & on the cover (as seen in Entry 153).

Well, I was reading my weekly stack of Comics & saw this ad:



Now this Ad is a mass-up of both things: The Text from the Ad & the Art for the Cover. But that's not all In both costume she is the same pose! It's almost the same drawing!



I say "almost" since after looking at both side by side not only do the costumes change but the expression on her face change.



Also, "glow" on the lasso changes.

Now I am getting slightly obsessed about this thing: maybe. But hey, I've gotten 4 whole posts about this thing! Anything that gets me to make more posts can't all be bad.

Until time: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 154: Wonder Woman's New Outfit #3

In a attempt to have a larger readership, on my Facebook page & at a few other websites I visit: I've been directing people to read my Blog. On one website, I got this comment about my recent posts about Wonder Woman:

A nicely low-key reaction, all things considered. ;)

My response went a little like this, well a lot like this since I'm just reposting it:

That's my reaction to most things, I don't get upset about most things other get up in arms about. With Wonder Woman: it's a drastic change that will mostly run it's course & then be changed back to what how she was before when the new writer comes on the book. Or it might change back before JMS is off the book, from the little story I read the classic ideas aren't completely gone just cut off from Diana at the moment. At the end of this story she might get all that stuff back or back in some altered form.

After posting thins comment I was thinking about things that I did get up in arms about & I didn't really come up with much. There are things in comics that I don't like but for the most part I just either choose to ignore them or try to find something I like about it. (which can sometimes be hard).

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 153: Wonder Woman's New Outfit #2

So, this post is a follow up to what I posted in 151: Wonder Woman.

Yesterday while I was at the comic book store, I got a copy of Wonder Woman #600. It was probably a second printing but i didn't care I bought it to find out what all the hub bub was about.

Here is the cover:


I think the art is done the same person who did the art for the ad I posted. I think she is even posed in the way as the Ad. Now I'm not sure why this art wasn't used for the ad but as I said in 151 maybe the Ad department didn't get the Costume change memo. :)

So, what did I think of the Comic: mostly pointless. I felt there was too much filler. There was 10 pages of art pieces by various artists, most were well done but I felt like there were just too many. The stories in the comics just didn't seem all that interesting, most of them all had the message "Gee, Wonder Woman is amazing!" Yeah, I know this was a Wonder Woman comic but I thought was a bit odd that that almost all ended on that on that thought. Now for why I bought the book: the story by Straczynski where he sets up the change on WW's status quo. What did I think of it? I thought it was interesting. It sets up the story nicely. Now, I'm not sure if I'd pick up the monthly issues to follow the story but I might pick up the story when they collect it into one book to see how the story went.

until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 152: Slice & Dice!

A week or two a friend of mine bought a Thor comic, As I was looking at it there was a panel inside it that I thought was awesome!

So, I went out bought the issue in question (I could have borrowed the issue but I didn't) & I'd like to show you the panel. Now I've put the panel behind a "jump cut" since the panel is rated Teen for some goriness but it's not too gory so you are warned! I repeat: Don't click if you don't want to see the panel.

This is Entry 151: Wonder Woman's New Outfit #1

So, I was reading my weekly stash of comics & I saw an ad for the new Wonder Woman writer & artist team on the book:




After looking at I noticed something wrong: She's wearing the wrong costume! For those that don't know major changes went down last issue (#600) & Wonder Woman got a costume & back story make over. Princess Diana now apparently wears this:



I say "apparently" since I've yet to read/look at any of the Wonder Woman books with this new look. All I've seen is the image above. But I think the Ad is kind of odd: If in this "all-new era" where you change up a whole bunch of stuff with the character why have the character's old costume on the Ad? Is DC afraid of the change up? I don't know. Maybe the people in the Ad department get the memo that said they were changing the costume.

As for what I think about the change: I'm rather nonplus about it. She's changed her costume before & changed it back after awhile. The thing I'm not so sure about is the change to back story, from what I gather they changed pretty much everything. She now more urban (hence the pants & leather jacket) & other stuff. This doesn't really jive with me. But I'd save finally judgement after the story line is over.

In somewhat related news: Straczynski is almost now the writer on Superman & did read his first issue. Superman is walking around Philadelphia & doing stuff (Having Pie, talking people off buildings, finding gas leaks in Trucks, other random stuff). It was an interesting issue, written quite well, but this was also part 1 of story line & I'm not sure I'd want multiple issues of Superman just walking around Pennsylvania doing stuff. I know we just came off a year or more of Action packed stories but you don't have to cut it out completely. :)

That's all I got for this time. Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 150: Random Photos #1

wow. I've made a 150 posts here.

To celebrate this & me finding out that my scanner isn't completely useless I thought I'd start up an idea i've had for some time. It's called Random Photos! What I'm proposing might be considered something in a similar vein as AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com but I'm not going of the completely awkward photos (I got some of those), but just the random photos.

How I came to owning these random photos: At my last job, one of my task was to take in donations from the general public & do a general sort of the items. These items were sorted once more by other people & priced to be sold out front in the Thrift Store. In this sorting I would sometimes come upon photographs & knowing that they would not be sold I had two choices: 1. Throw them out or 2. Save them & take them home with me. I choose Option 2. Over the course of my time with the store I gathered up a two dozen or more photos. I would now like to share them with you all.

Here is the first random photo:




This also the first or one of the first I came across. I have no idea who these ladies are, where they other then on beach some where or what that ladies in the blue dress is wiggling vigorously at the other is. But it is a random photo.

I'll be back with more Random Photos later.

So, until next we meet I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 149: My Summer To Do List!

It's summertime & I've recently come into having some extra time on my hand. So, I've made up a list, a To-Do list of stuff I want to do this summer. This is not a full of stuff I'll do this summer. I might not even get around to half of these things but it's a list of stuff I want To-Do.

- "Cleaning" my room: It's sort of getting messy. My cleaning method is basically this these:

1. Identify pile of stuff on my floor.
2. go through pile to see what stuff I want to keep & what I don't want to.
3. Put what I want to keep back in pile. Dispose of stuff I don't want to keep.

Now this might not make my room look all that cleaner but I'll know what is in those piles won't feel bad about there being piles of stuff on my floor. :)

- Driving: I've never had a driver's license & one of my goals for 2010 has been to get one so I'll be going about doing that this summer. Hopefully having that magic laminated piece of plastic by the fall.

- Job Searching: My time at my last job has come to an end so I am now on the hunt for a new one. Much like the Driver's License I hope to have one of these by Summer's end.

- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: I've never really read any Manga or have not watched all that much Anime either but I'm open to expanding my horizons. So, after seeing a video review of this Anime I decided to give it a go (you got to start somewhere). So, I bought the first series & am in the process of watching it.

- Blog!: With my new found time I want to update this here blog more often. Maybe not everyday but maybe twice a week would be good. I want to at least update it a few times a month with quality posts, stuff of substance. With some things I've got planned I should have enough stuff to do so. Some of this stuff is more planned out then others but they will hopefully be up soon.

- Read a book or two: I've got a pile of books I have yet to read/finish. With this time I could be reading actual books & not just comic books. :)

- Video Games: Growing up I never really played Video Games, the only time I would is when I was over a someone elses' house & then It wasn't for very long. I recently bought a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) from a thrift store & have 20 some odd game cartridges for it. In trying out the various cartridges I have some to know that I suck at most of these games. So, this summer I want to become better at one of these games. Out of the cartridges I'm thinking that I'll go with a classic: Super Mario Brothers. I've spent more time with this game then others (it was also one of the first I got, too). I've made it past stage 1 of level 1. I want to see at least Level 2 at the end of the Summer. Maybe Stage 3 by the end of the year.

Be more Social: I'm all that social out in the real world. For the most part I fine with my little world I crafted by myself but It cane be lonely sometimes. With getting a driver's license I can drive a car to other people & do stuff with them. I sporadicly do social things but I need to do more.

Will all this happen this summer: Maybe. Maybe not.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy Everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 148: 11 months of DC Comics reviewed in 1 post (sort of)

Last time, I went over the Marvel comics I had read since I last reviewed here on da Blog so this time I'm going to go over the DC Comics I've read.

So, something about my "reviews":
- I don't do in depth reviews, I just give my feelings.
- I might spoil things. Try to not to but it happens.
- I sort of assume you've read some of the stuff I reference.
- I don't explain a lot. So, if your lost: sorry.
- I don't review all I read. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say about a book.
- Sometime when I have something to say it's not much & maybe kind of vague.
- I don't have a lot of pictures with my reviews since my scanner doesn't really work & I don't really want to search the Net for the pictures I'd want to use.

But 1 thing I forgot:
- I tend to ramble sometimes. If you get bored: sorry. I try to keep on track but sometimes I get distracted.

Also, I was told recently my Scanner is not not as broken as I thought it was. It just needs so finessing to get to do what you want. Once I know I how to do that, I make be putting up my pictures here. So woot to that!

But getting to the comics....

Much like how I talked about Marvel's Siege, I'll give my feelings on DC's latest major event: Blackest Night: Holy crap, it was awesome!If you have not read it, you should do so. I think the collected edition is coming out soon too so you don't have to search out the single issues. Also, the tie in comics (be they the handful of mini series or tie in issues from other comics) were all pretty good for the most part. 2 cool things from the event: Lantern Rings & Series brought back from the dead! 8 comics that tied into the event if you bought the issue you'd get the ring of one of the lantern corps. I like geeky stuff like that that. Near the end of the miniseries, a couple of cancelled series were brought back for one issue issue & they were even number correctly (if the series ended on 75, the BN tie in issue was 76).

After Blackest Night over with DC has gone into the Brightest Day!! We are 4 issues (or 5 there was a Zero issue) & I'm still not sure what to make of the series. But then at the end there will be 26 (27) issues so at issue 4 we are still at the very beginning. I'm willing to stick with the series but some stuff happening would be nice. Yes, there is stuff happening but not enough stuff & some of the stuff that is going on is confusing with little explanation (which most likely will be explained later on).

Now on to the comics....

With most of DC reading it can be divided into a few easy categories: Superman, Batman, Brightest Day & Other. I've already talked about BD (the series that have spun out that will be talked about under the Other section).

First off we have the comics revolving around the Man of Steel & his supporting cast. I pretty much have been reading the entire line (Superman, Action Comics, Supergirl, Adventure Comics, Superman: World of New Krypton). Over the last year, all the Super Books were all connected & revolving around the New Krypton storyline. What did I think off it it? Ok. It had it's good & bad parts like most anything. I don't regret reading it.

For the upcoming year I read that you don't have to read the entire line to get a full storyline but they will still slightly connect (If Supergirl is in a fight in Action Comics, that might be referenced in her own book). I'll still probably read the books (S:WoNK was a mini series & is now over). Adventure Comics is changing how it is done, It started out as a Superboy book with a Legion of Super Heroes in the back & then the legion stories came up front with Superboy in the Back. Now He is getting his own book (not sure I'll read, I'll at least look at the first issue) so He's no longer in AC & The Legion are staying with AC even though they have their own book. From what I gather AC will tell stories of the Legion's past where their own book will tell stories of their present which both of these books happen in our future. :)

2 other Super books are Power Girl & Superman: Secret Origin. With S:SO is a mini series. A 6 issue mini series. Issue 5 came out months ago so I don't know where 6 will present it's self. It's a nice book, it sets up the presently except back story of Superman. It is nothing really that hasn't been said before or anything you really need to know to read the Superman books. I picked it up since it was writing by Geoff Johns & art by Gary Frank.

With Power Girl, I call it it a Superman book since she is from Krypton, just a Krypton from an alternate reality. :) Her book doesn't relate to the other Super books. I'm not even sure if it takes place in Metropolis. Also, come to thing of it she doesn't really appear in the other Superman books. Seems like she should have, a whole mess a kryptonians did show up recently & she didn't seem to even care. Hmmm... seems like a slip up by DC but oh well. Move on. The PG book has been good, with nice art by Amanda Conner. With issue 13, there is a new writer & artist on the book.

Now on the Bat Books, I don't read the entire line but most of it (Batman, Batgirl, Detective Comics, Streets of Gotham, Gotham City Sirens). All are good books, with SoG my liking of the book fluxuates from month to month. The rest are pretty much good month to month. If you can get the Batwoman issues of Detective Comics with the art by J.H.Williams III: Get it! Some of the best art & most interesting page design I've seen in awhile.

Both the Batman comic & the Superman comic have reached the 700 issues. The Batman one had one story told over 3 different eras with 3 different Batmen where as Superman was a collection of stories. Both good.

The Other Comics:

- I've since stopped reading the JSA book: lost interest. I had even less interesting the JSA All-Stars book. The JSA 80 page giant from a few months back was awesome. If you haven't read it you should & you don't really need to have been reading the JSA book to it it. The various art styles employed in the book is partly was it is awesome.

- Booster Gold: Creator/Writer/Artist Dan Jurgens has left the book which is sad but the book continues with a set of writers who have written the character before Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (they wrote him during Justice League International). I'm not sure I like the angle they are going with him. I'm not sure if it fits with the way the book had been done until they came on.

- Speaking of Booster Gold, spinning out Brightest Day is Justice League: Genertion Lost which has a number of the members from those days of JLI (which includes BG) to fight recently returned from the dead Maxwell Lord. I like how BG is written here better & plus it's a pretty good book. The most recent issue of Power Girl also tied into this series not sure if there will be any further ties into each other.

- The Flash: The end of Flash: Rebirth was kind of lack lust since it took a bit to come out but still good. The relauched title is also good.

One other book: Unwritten, from DC's Vertigo imprint. Good Book, interesting idea.

I think that is about it for the comics. There might be some other comics that I haven't talked about floating around if I find them, I'll talk about them.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 147: 11 months of Marvel Comics reviewed in 1 post (sort of)

So, the last time I actually did a post like this was way back in August. What is this post going to be about? I'm going to review some Comics!

Now I'm not going to try & review all the comics I've read in the last 11 months. The post would way too long & take way too much time to type out. So, as I mentioned a post or two down the Blog I will talking about Marvel Comics post Siege & DC Comics post Blackest Night. Since I have pretty much skipped over those events I will be talking about them & anything related to them.

Also, about my "reviews":
- I don't do in depth reviews, I just give my feelings.
- I might spoil things. Try to not to but it happens.
- I sort of assume you've read some of the stuff I reference.
- I don't explain a lot. So, if your lost: sorry.
- I don't review all I read. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say about a book.
- Sometime when I have something to say it's not much & maybe kind of vague.
- I don't have a lot of pictures with my reviews since my scanner doesn't really work & I don't really want to search the Net for the pictures I'd want to use.

This is how I roll. :)

Since I've got my Marvel books closest to me we'll start there.

Marvel

So before I get into the post Siege I'm going to say a few words about the event: Underwhelming. Misrepresented. Kind of Pointless. In the ads leading up to Siege I was like This is an event years in the making & it will awesome. yes, we are crashing Asgard into the Oklahoma! BOO-YAH!. Well, this might be all well & true but that's what Siege #1 is about where as 2 through 4 are about Holy Crap! The Sentry just killed a guy & has finally lost it. He might kill us all. Let's take him down! BOO-YAH! Really, that's what it's about. Sure, Norman Osborn get taken down. The Villains are taken down. The Heroes are back. We are heading into a a new Heroic Age. :) But the whole "event" just seemed like a none event It was a just a away to tie up a few storyline of the past few years & change the status quo back to how it was like a few years with a some changes here & there.

So, getting on to the books.

The Avengers books: All the Avengers books (New, Dark, Mighty & The Initiative) were cancelled at the end of Siege to be replaced with a relaunched New Avengers, Secret Avengers, a just plain old Avengers book & The Avengers Academy. By the time of this post all the first issues have come out. All have some interesting bits to him. I'm willing to give each a storyline to see if I like the book. Not a big fan of John Romita Jr.'s art of Avengers, I just don't think it works with the book. Secret Avengers is the book with the a group of Avengers going on Black Ops like missions. The book is written by Ed Brubaker (who also writes Captain America) & the art is by Mike Deodato (who did the art of the Dark Avengers). The art style fits with the book. The relaunched New Avengers is a book I'm not sure about. It continues on story threads from the old New Avengers book but what they did in that book doesn't fit with the new Age they are living in. Sure it's a first issue but I seemed a bit odd continue on threads from that time. Then there is The Avengers Academy which takes the places of the Avengers: The Initiative comic. Now I went into this book not liking what I had seen but since it's where I'm going to see Hank Pym (who was doing wonderful things in Mighty Avengers) & Robbie Baldwin is going back to his old Speedball Identity. So, they had 2 good things towards the book but a few more things against it. By the end of Issue #1: my thought towards the book had turned. I wasn't as bad I thought it was going to be. a worth successor to A:TI. Also, there is a Avengers mini-series: Avengers Prime which features Thor, Iron Man & Steve Rogers. Issue 1 was pretty good & it's got art by Alan Davis!

Secret Warriors: still a pretty cool book. Has one of the better cover designs in Comics.

Invincible Iron Man: They just got past Issue #25 & the book has been awesome for every issue. A book you should be reading!

Fantastic Four: Writer Jonathan Hickman (who is also writing Secret Warriors) is doing amazing things on this book! What he is doing & where he is going with the team/book is amazing. Definitely worth reading.

Captain America: Good Book. I don't have much to say beyond that.

I do want to talk about the back story in the Book with Rikki Barnes as the new Nomad. Not really the character but about the writer & artest on the stories. Nomad is also appearing in new book called Young Allies, the writer is Sean McKeever & art by David Baldeon. Now the cool thing is McKeever & Baldeon are doing the the writing & art on both stories which gives a nice continuity. The two also did a story with Gravity who is also a member of the Young Allies so there is some more continuity. It's not ofter when character are written & drawn by the same people across different books.

Prince of Power:a mini series which follows out of the hercules series. Good stuff.

Atlas: This is the title of the new monthly series featuring the Agent of Atlas. It's still good but I'm liking of the stories with them is sort of waining. It's still good. I'm not sure what it is but I still like the older stuff better.

Lockjaw and The Pet Avengers: still a fun book. They just finished their latest mini-series (Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers: Unleashed) & some a summer special coming out. I like these stories done in short mini-series & specials. It works for the group. I wouldn't mind seeing more groups/characters get this treatment. Also, if you cane find the cover of Issue #4 of their most recent miniseries: it might be one of the best covers of the year!

The Marvels Project: The last issue recently came out & it was not what I was expecting it to be. An ok series.

The Torch: Like TMP, last issue just came out, not what I was expecting & was an ok series. There a "follow" series which involves the Invaders which I probably won't be getting.

Marvelous Land of Oz: the sequel miniseries the "Wizard of OZ" mini series. Good story, interesting art. Not sure I'd get the next series if there was one.

So, I think that is a long enough post. I'll be back later with my reviews of DC Comics.

Until then Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 146: 616

Today's date of the Sixteenth of June has a some what geeky meaning. If you use the American form of abbreviating the date (Day then Month) which makes it 6/16. Why is that Geeky? Unofficially in the Marvel Comics multiverse the designation for the main universe is 616.

According to Wikipedia the origin of the term is this:

The term was first used in "Rough Justice," a story credited to both Alan Moore and Alan Davis published in July 1983 by Marvel UK in the anthology comic The Daredevils (and was later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback). Saturnyne uses the term to differentiate Brian Braddock, the Captain Britain of the regular Marvel Comics universe, from the other members of the Captain Britain Corps. The designation was later confirmed by the American branch of Marvel Comics in the Excalibur title, which frequently referenced Captain Britain's early UK-published adventures. This comic was written by Chris Claremont, who had created Captain Britain, and by Alan Davis, the artist on the UK-published series.

Alan Moore is usually credited with creating the term (for example by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort). However, Alan Davis has stated that the designation of Earth 616 was actually first made by Dave Thorpe, the previous writer of the UK-published Captain Britain stories.

In addition, a difference of opinion exists regarding the selection of the number 616. In 2005, Alan Moore's son-in-law John Reppion (who is married to Alan Moore's daughter Leah Moore), stated on an Internet message board that the number 616 was arbitrarily chosen by Moore and had no significant meaning, saying it "was just a random number of no significance chosen because people always seemed to be talking about 'earth 2' or 'earth 4' but never any higher numbers." However, Alan Davis contends that Thorpe specifically chose the true Number of the Beast to reflect his feelings about the modern superhero genre.

I say this term is "unofficial" because some of the Marvel's Management don't like the term & don't use it. But it has popped in a few of their Books (various Marvel Uk series, the Excalibur series, Marvel 1602 #6, Marvel Knights 4 #15, Uncanny X-Men #462, the Exiles series & in Marvel's very own Official Handbooks). One writer even tried to change where the main Marvel Universe feel in the numbering system. Writer Steven Grant in the final story arc of the X-Man series (Issues 71-74) referred to the Marvel Universe as Earth 611 because of the destruction of several other Earths (which were all apparently "higher on the list" then the MU) by a godlike entity. His change was most likely an allusion to the events of DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths". This change has not be adopted by other writers.

Hope you day has been Marvelous & as always Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 145: Disappointment

As made mention here & at least one other place I made mention that I would be making an announcement tomorrow, the 16th. It won't be happening. I being lazy my timeline for have having it done by tomorrow got away from me. To be general it was video, what the video was to be about is will be told another time. I did try to film the the darn thing yesterday & started to over think it, both it's content & how I look/acted in it. This got worse as time went on. After a spending as few hours on it I gave up. I will return to it & complete it so I may announce what I wanted to announce to you all.

So, for any of you that were actually looking forward to it: sorry to disappoint you. I could have posted something that I wasn't happy with to just have it out there but I don't want to do that & won't be. :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy, everyone.

- Brian

This is Entry 144: Brian on the Aisle #6

In 2007, a Blog was started. Contained with in it was the thoughts & opinions of a man with no plans of joining the military. The Blog wasn't really read by anyone. Today, still no one was really reading that Blog, it survives only because that man won't let it die. Sometimes he see Movies & then reviews them on said Blog. So if there are Movies he's seen & you can find this Blog, maybe you can read the segment called... Brian on the Aisle!

As you might be able to to guess I saw the A-Team remake yesterday.

I think my friend AJ summed it best when asked what she thought of the film: Meh. If anyone going into seeing the movie was hoping for the best film ever: you will be disappointed. If your looking for a way to kill 2 hours & see stuff blown up real good: you won't be disappointed. :) The Movie pretty much run along like this: fighting which leads to explosions, then attempts at story which lead into fighting which some fighting & then guess what explosions! Then we got to have some story bits but then that leads to some fighting & then BOOM more stuff blowing up. Now it may seem like I'm being hard on this movie which I kind of am. I did find most of the big action sequences thrilling & kind of engaging but the movie seems to lag a bit when there wasn't some sort of action happening.

Also going into this film you do have to turn off a bit of your mind & suspend a nice chunk of disbelief since a lot of stuff that when on needed to be time exactly are they would have gone horribly, horribly wrong. One thing that was a bit annoying was the all the extreme close-ups: I do need to see all the pores of the actors' faces. You can zoom out a bit & still get the same effect. Another thing it seemed like the movie had a lack of background music or at least lack of variety of music. Yes, I know I am watching the A-Team movie I don't need to hear the theme song for the 12th time! The use of a song by Steely Dan was put to ok usage. But then that the A-Team movie was as mentioned before: Meh. It was an Ok Movie. Most of the comments about the movie we, the 3 of us who saw the movie together, said followed them up or could have followed them up was "But it was the A-Team".

A few comments on the Acting: the actors playing the A-Team (Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson & Sharlto Copley) were all believable in their roles. Most everyone else in the movie was too but then you get to Jessica Biel, the only major female role in the film. I did not belief in her role, it did not seem real. Yes, she's acting but I think as an audience member I deserves some believability in the acting when when they are doing unbelievable things.

a comment about the humor from the movie: when your biggest laugh in theater is for a throw away sight gag your movie might not as funny as it could have been. So, the joke was really funny but it was the one thing that like the whole theater laughing. There was scatter laughs from people though out the movie.

Was it worth the $9.50 I spent on the ticket: sort of. The trailers did make me kind of want to see the movie & am I sad that I saw it: no. I liked the film. It might of been ok at a matinee price. The Movie didn't seem completely pointless like "The Takers", a movie I saw the trailer for before the A-Team started. If the movie seem pointless just from the trailer & most trailer try to use the best moment I worry want the rest of the movie is like. Now with I see this "Takers" film: no. Also, there is a movie trailer for something I thought was something you'd only see on SyFy network: it's "Piranha 3-D" which also seems stupid & seems like a film Dr. Forrester would have subject the crew of the Satellite of Love to if it was still around. :)

But speaking of good trailers: I saw a new trailer (at least to me it was) the "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" movie. Now the other trailer I saw made it look awesome & the trailer just added to the awesomeness!

So, what do I give the A-Team movie: 3 explosions!

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

Also don't you just love it when a post come to together? :)

This is Entry 143: Feeling Bad.

I feel really bad.

Well, I feel really bad about a number of things but this post to to talk about why I feel bad about my Blog: I've let it devolve. It's not what it once was & since this is my Blog I'm the only one to blame. When I started this Blog was being so good at posting stuff but then as time when on post got more & more infrequent. When I did post half of the posts where about me feeling bad that I hadn't posted anything in awhile & that stuff is going be posted. I guess this is another one of those posts.

I've kind of being working on some thing that I hope will be a frequent part of the Blog. The long talked about special project that I am hoping I get out to all of you on my proposed air date or June 16th. I've got 2 ideas for it: the main idea & a back up plan. I want to have something to show on June 16th.

I also feel bad that the main reason why I started this Blog isn't happening. I wanted to share my thoughts on Comics that I had read recently. I still read comics on a regular basis but the review part hasn't been happening & it should be. The special project is part of how to relieve the problem but it's only a part. I don't remember the last time I actually posted a Comic Book review segment to the Blog. Sadly, it has been months. I want to do reviews again & I will mostly like skip a whole bunch of comics. I'm thinking that I'll start at the beginning of Brightest Day, it related books & other books from the last month or 2 for DC. For Marvel I'll start at the beginning of their "Heroic Age". I'll most likely give a few thoughts on Blackest Night, Siege & related stuff. I also have the books from Free Comic Book Day & a bunch of Back Issues that I haven't talked about which I'll should go over so good stuff & some not so good stuff. :)

I don't want to let to this Blog die but by my inaction I'm letting it. I'm trying to do better.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 142: Brian on the Aisle #5

It's another installment of Brian on the Aisle.

Today I finally got out to see Iron Man 2 & it was Super cool & awesome! I really liked it. I did feel it was bit slow in parts & thinking back most of those parts did all seem to have Sam Rockwell (who played Justin Hammer) in them. I liked it, my dad (who went with me) liked it. Going into the movie I wasn't sure about Scarlett Johanson playing Black Widow, wasn't sure she'd be believable in the role. After seeing seeing here in the role: she did ok but wasn't completely sold on her in the role. I look forward to next Marvel Movie: Thor!

Some others movies I think you, my dear readers, should go out & watch. All of these movies are old:
- FEDS: this 1988 comedy starring Rebecca De Mornay & Mary Gross is one that is near & dear to my heart. In my formative years, during the summertime my older sister & I would stay up late at night. What would we be doing? Watching Movies. This was a frequent favorite. I recently bought a VHS copy of the movie (it has yet to be released on DVD as far as I know) & watched and it still holds up. Search this out!

- Trekkies: a documentary about the fans of Star Trek & is quite funny. I'm a minor fan of the Trek, I grew up watching the various series (TNG forward) & have seen a number of the films but am no way as far gone as those presented in the Film. I found a VHS copy at a Thrift store so I'm not sure if a DVD version exists.

- Toys: the 1992 Robin Williams film had recently been on my mind (not sure why), I then saw it on TV & shortly there after bought a DVD copy for myself. It's got a good story but what really drew me was the art direction: it's amazing! An underrated classic!

- Fanboys: a movie in the slightly similar vein as Trekkies but this time about Star Wars an entirely fictional account of their dealings. I remember hearing about this movie being made & hearing about problems with it's release (a 4 year difference between it's original release date & actual release date) then knowing it came out but I don't think got a wide release. After seeing it I think it should have it's a pretty fun movie, better if you the SW references.

That's it for now. Until next we meet: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 141: Update!

June 16th!

What important about this date it is the currently proposed date for some super cool & awesome!

Look for it! Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 140: FCBD 2010 part 2

I guess this could have been an amendment of Entry 139 but I'm making it's own post.

I was at my local comic book store today picking up my books for the week (all 3 of them, it was slow week) while I was there I was asked if I had picked up Issue 0 of The War of the Supermen, one of the books from Free Comic Book Day. Now why was I asked this?

It wasn't because they have extra copies & wanted to unload them on customers. It was because I had Issue 1 on my pull list & they wanted to make sure I had the issue before I read Issue 1. Now this was really nice & cool. But they wasn't all I was asked if I had. I was also asked if I had gotten a Bag on Saturday. I wasn't sure what that meant (bag of what?) & said "no" so I got this cool Free Comic Book Day bag for FREE. I wasn't the only person there that got the bag. So I'm not sure if I got it because I had a pull list with them & am a regular customer (am at that store at least once a week. Some weeks I'm there twice) or if they just had extra bags & were giving them out to whom every wanted them.

But that they did both of these things are among the reasons why I keep coming back. I know of at least a dozen or so comic books stores that are close to me & I could go to any one of them for the same comics. A few of them are closer to my home then this store but there are a few things that I like about this store, no pun intended, that I go the extra distance to go there.

Just thought I'd share this.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 139: FCBD 2010

Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day & as always it was awesome, even thought I had to go to work. But I set it up so that I could go in later then normal so that I might partake in the geekiness of the event. I started off the day at the store I go to each FCBD, it's a few cities away from me but definitely worth the drive. Why? Out of the 32 books offered for FCBD not every store gets them all & most stores only let get a small number of the books. The store I go to lets you get one of each & they get like the whole line of books. This means I get 30 some odd comic books for free!

The store I go to is in a strip mall & there was 2 lines outside 2 different stores: 1 in front of the Comic Book store & another line in front of a Scrapbooking store that was going out of business. Can you guess which store had the longer line? If you guess the Scrapbooking store: you are correct! :)

As I awaiting entry with about 15 to 20 other people I noticed a sign that would through off my entire morning. My original plan was to get comics there & then maybe see a few other stores before I had to head home & get ready for work. I planned to do also this & be home by Noon or at least 12:30. The sign in question said there was a sale. One I could not pass up! In a back room, their was back issues & every single one was on sale for a quarter! Not matter what the book, how old or new it was, you could get it for a quarter.

After getting inside, I went through the the line to get my free comics & headed into the back room to start my search. I picked up about 40 books & I didn't go through all the bins. I went through most of them but I had things to do. Also while there I got 2 other Comic Book Boxes, my collection is expanding & need more storage. This is of course because of that day's haul but also due to the other books I've been picking up.

With my 70 some odd books, 2 boxes & free War Machine heroclix, I made my way to another line: The check out line!

Once done with that, I left my first store around Noon & maybe my way to one other store. I had planned to maybe visit 3 store in total that day. If I had the whole day I might have visited more. But 1 main store with 2 store overs seemed good enough.

I made to my other store stop over, they had less of a selection of books & a 3 books per person limit. I picked up some some books for a my nephews & headed home. Was there in just enough time to change for work & get there almost on time. Was late clocking in by a minute.

I'll be back with another post telling of the books I got. Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 138: A FCBD state of mind!

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! Go out & get some free comics!
More info Here!

From CollegeHumor.com: Take the Jay-Z & Alicia Keys song "Empire State of Mind" mix in Star Wars & what do you get? Awesomeness!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Until next time May the Stay Jazzy be with you!