Sinestro Corp

WARNING: Spoilers for Sinestro Corps special #1 ahead. You have been warned.





YOWSA.
This book has been getting critical acclaim. I finally got my copy, and I completely agree. Nice moments with all the GLS, Hal, Kyle, Guy, John and others. We have the Sinestro Corps assault OA. To kidnap Kyle Raynor.
Why do they want Kyle. Well you remember that Kyle was the keeper of the living flame of the Oans? Well Sinestro pulled Ion out of Kyle - and it looked like a big green worm/bug - sentient willpower.
Where else have we seen that visual motif? How about in Rebirth, with Parrallax.
Who shows up, and dives into Kyle. Who then becomes the new Parallax, similar costume to Hal's old one, and everything.
So Kyle fans are up in arms I'm sure - but as this was forced on Kyle, I expect it will be short term. And they symmetry is perfect. Now the Kyle fans know how we Hal fans felt. Personally I hope it is temporary - while I am a complete fan of Hal (Never read Kyle's GL, just couldn't get into it, but I have lots of classic GL before that), I like Kyle (mostly through what I saw in the Justice League). I don't want him a villain.
Then after they do that, we find that some beings escaped from the Guardians' Prison, and they Join the Sinestro Corps.
And, with this being on Qward, in the Anti-matter universe, guess who has been some of the power behind the Sinestro corps..... (and sorry for low quality on picture):







To which I respond HOLY CRAP. Crenshaw the Cyborg Superman, Earth Prime Superboy (one of the most physically powerful characters in the Multiverse) and Anti-Monitor.

The GL Corps is about to have it's hands full. Can't wait to see how it all falls out. I expect the ride will be glorious.

memeing time again.

Appetizer
How many pieces of jewelry do you wear most days?
1 - My wedding ring. I've been trying to get into the habit of a medic-alert necklace, but just haven't gotten there yet (Allergy to Penicillin)

Soup
What is your favorite instrumental song?
Who toughie. I like a lot, favorite is dependent on mood - right now "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" By Flatt and Scruggs.

Salad
Who has a last name that you like?
Never thought about it. I have a friend with the name Zuchowski - I like that - it isn't average.

Main Course
Name a popular movie you’ve never seen.
I've never seen any of the Godfather movies (and never really intend to).
Oh, and I'm a guy so Titanic is also on the list. :)

Dessert
Fill in the blank: Nothing makes me ___________ like ____________.
Mad / injustice.


Top 5 "Musical" prized possessions...rare cd...autographs, instruments etc.
Eep. I don't go for that kind of thing, never been an autograph hound, and the one CD that was autographed, I was rather annoyed that it was autographed. But here goes:

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds on record. The record specifically (as opposed to CD which I also have) not for the music (which I love), but for the full sized art and booklet. :)

John Fogerty: Deja Vu all Over again. It was the last CD my mother bought before she passed away.

Smile- it has all 6 Smile songs and Man from Manhattan. A must for any Queen collector. For those that don't know, Smile was the band that Taylor and May were in before Queen. The lead singer left, and recomended a roommate to replace him - Freddie Mercury, and the rest was history.

Brian May Starfleet Project. Great album of Brian and Friend jamming. The three songs were the centerpiece to a Japanese CD single that I also bought.

Shaun Cassidy - first album. Never been released on CD. I hooked my computer up to my turntable to get it on mp3. A favorite from when I was very very young. :)

And while this doesn't exactly qualify, I have to say my external Hard Drive. It holds my entire MP3 collection. All 210 Gig of them. :)

Bonus:

If you could give your Meme Mistress one musical thing for her b-day on Monday what would it be?

A copy of my entire mp3 collection. :)

Concerts

Take Me Back Tuesday at the Music Memoirs

Are there any bands that you've seen live that didn't impress you, or that sounded better on CD?
The Eurythmics. Good concert but I though they were better on CD. But then I was way up high on the mountain and couldn't see the stage all that well.

Live albums? Love em or hate em? Why?
Hate Hate Hate. They don't have the technical proficiency of a studio album, they never capture whatever it is that makes live music good, and it has crowd noises. I hate crowd noises on CD.

Mtv started the "Unplugged" concept...do you have any favorites and what are your feelings on the "Unplugged" series.
Well, MTV and Tesla's Five Man Acoustical Jam Album. I think it is cool to hear the acoustic versions. No real favorites, I've only hear a couple, but I did like Clapton's.

What is your favorite live act?
Does none of the above count? I've only been to 7 concerts* in my life, so my choices are somewhat limited. I'm just not a huge fan of live music in general, I enjoy concerts as much for the event/experience as the music. Of all that I have seen, Roger Clyne was the best.


* Styx, Judas Priest, Ratt, Eurythmics (Howard Jones opened), Billy Joel, Meat Loaf (Cheap Trick opened), John Fogerty (Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers opened).

Workin' out (well at least sorta)

I am hideously out of shape*. Not quite 6 foot, and not quite 300 lbs. For years I had a mediumly active job - I worked a C-store - On my feet of full shifts, moving around, cleaning etc. I now have a sedentary job. Add to the fact that I have taken martial arts off and on for years, but the in the last while it has been more off than on.

I've been feeling it.

So at the start of the year, my new years resolution was to completely give up candy. Which I have done. I did this to make myself for for fruit and such when I want something sweet.

Well, I felt I needed some more activity. So I've started a short little workout each morning. Only about 10 to 15 minutes, but I figure I can keep that little up.

I do about 5 minutes of intense aerobics (body twists, jumping jacks, punches, arm swings, and short fast kicks). Then I stretch for about 5 minutes. Then I do crunches (5 count crunches) both normal and side, then I do pushups**, and once that is something I can do, I was going to add squat thrusts and some isometric muscle building stuff. I have something of a bad knee so running or stairs are out.

I'm hoping that this will help my depression, and also help my health in general.


* Okay, cue the gag about round being shape.
** I managed all of about 10 pushups today. That is really a big signal of how out of shape I am in. When preparing for my blackbelt test I could do 50 no sweat. Sigh.

Found a good one

I buy CDs on impulse often, looking for new sounds. That is how I discovered the Presidents of the United States of America, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Rocket Scientists (I loved the name, and it was a prog label) for example.

Found a new one today.
No More Kings - Self Titled.
I had seen the "Sweep the Leg Video" a while ago, and finally got the album. Great music, great hooks, some humorous songs (Zombie Me!) and some songs with real impact.
These guys are great - a song based on Knight Rider and another on The Karate Kid. And naming themselves after a Schoolhouse Rock bit.
This CD is highly recommended.

Oh yeah, and here's the Video:

It's been two days since I posted the following.

Quick trivia question -

How do we know that Georgi LaForge was fan of the rock group Rush?

A "No-Prize" to the first person that answers.
Hint in 2 days.

Hint:
The answer is on Moving Pictures

A rather humorous exchange

This came up on a message board I frequent - the question was how we felt about the Ghost Rider movie, to which I replied


Ghost Rider. I enjoyed it - gonna buy it. I considered it in the top of the "middle pack" of superhero movies. You know below Superman Returns, Batman Begins, X2, but above X3, the Spider-man movies, Daredevil. Somewhere about on par with the Fantastic Four.

And that got these two responses

Whoa, hang on a second. Are you ranking the Spider-Man movies below Ghost Rider?
And
Wait you liked Fantastic Four more than the Spiderman movies???

To which I responded (in two separate posts)

I walked out of Spider-man one wanting my money and my two hours back. Watching it on DVD, skipping about half an hour, or 45 minutes of it, and I think it is okay. Skipped Spidey 2 in theater, watched it once on DVD since, once it moved off new release. Same thing. The POV swinging shots gave me motions sickness, and there was way too much pathos and "lets dump on Peter" evern for Spider-man, where pathos is part of the point (and I generally never read Spider-man comics because there was too much pathos, the movies were even worse).

I watched Ghost Rider a couple of days ago (rental) play to buy it next week and will watch it again. I watch FF every couple of months. I've only bothered with Spider-Man 2 once.

So yeah, I do. I loathed the Spider-man movies with disgust that amounts to absolute detestation.

For me, Ghost Rider was a better movie, as was FF, all the X-movies, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, the Classic Superman: The Movie and Superman 2, the first Burton Batman, Daredevl, The Incredibles, Unbreakable, Mystery Men...ect ect. Heck aside from the visually poor ending, I'd rank the Hulk over Spiderman.

I skipped Spidey 3 in the theaters, I'll rent it on DVD when it's a cheap rental. I plan to see Rise of the Silver Surfer next week.

Interesting Results

Following Mike's Lead

You Are 12% Democrat

If you have anything in common with the Democrat party, it's by sheer chance. You're a staunch conservative, and nothing is going to change that!

How Democrat Are You?

You Are 56% Republican

You aren't a full fledged Republican yet, but it's probably the party that fits you best. You probably consider yourself an independent Republican. You usually support the party, but you also think for yourself!

How Republican Are You?

Not exactly what was anticipated, but not unsurprising either.

Trivia question

Quick trivia question -

How do we know that Georgi LaForge was fan of the rock group Rush?

A "No-Prize" to the first person that answers.
Hint in 2 days.

Friday music and feast.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name a funny habit you have.
I tend to obsess over my RPG characters.

Soup
If you could instantly know how to play a musical instrument, which one would you pick?
That one's easy Piano/Keyboards/Synth. I've always wanted to play. And some day I may take lessons.

Salad
How long is your hair?
Short - a business cut.

Main Course
When was the last time you forgave someone, and who was it?
A week or so ago. Myself- for accidentally hurting the wife's feelings. I hate when I do that.

Dessert
What is your favorite kitchen appliance?
Dishwasher, it keeps me from having to do dishes.

Music Memiors

Top 5 songs that mention things in the sky in the title. (This could be anything...stars, planes, birds, clouds....etc)
I'll admit that "x in the title" kind of lists are easy. I have all my music on mp3 and so I can just search for the word. :)

But there is one that pops right to mind. Having just seen Ghost Rider on DVD, and the song over the ending credits:
Spiderbait - Ghost Riders in the Sky.
Alan Parsons - Eye in the Sky]
William Shatner - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
Neil Diamond - On the Way to the Sky (one of my favorites from him)
Eric Norlander - Sky full of Stars.

The Phoenix gets an upgrade

A friend was having problems with his computer. Apparently it didn't like the single channel ram he had. He picked up some dual channel, and I ended up with his old RAM.

2 1 GB Sticks. As The Phoenix has 4 slots, and had a single stick of 1 GB ram in, I slotted the two new sticks (and still have a slot for another if I need it). So I am posting this on a machine with 3GB of RAM.

Woohoo!

Take me back.... to the Beach

Take me back Tuesday at the Music Memiors - Today's theme is beach and summer. I will avoid any surf music, just because there will likely be way too much of that on other posts.


What's the best music to chill out to for a day at the beach or the pool?
I got for Prog rock, 'cuz you likely have on earphones, and can really listen to the music.

Do you have any favorite summer/beach themed songs?
Lazing on a Suday afternoon - Queen
Day at the Beach - Joe Satriani
Little Dead Surfer Girl - Marillion
Lavender Blue - Marillion (Kids and Sprinklers)
Cruel Summer - Go Gos
Summertime Girls - Y&T
Boys of Summer - Don Henly
Summer in the City - Nick Guilder
Summerlove from Grease
Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts
Summer in the City - Lovin' Spoonful.

What's the best place to turn up the "Heat" for summer music in your area or somewhere you've vacationed? (ie concert venues, clubs what have you)
This one I can't really answer - I don't travel, never go to clubs, and have only been to 8 concerts in my life (about one every 2.5 years since I turned 18). Add to the fact that I hate the heat, and try and stay indoors, and air conditioned most of the summer (I consider it a bad day if I have to go outside for any length of time in June, July or Aug) this is one I just don't have the experience to answer.

What song best epitomizes a day at the beach for you.
Counterclockwise by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers:

Well the gringo boys got their dark sunglasses
And the girls on the beach
are all shakin' their fingers
'Cause no matter how dark the lenses
They can see that the eyes
and the minds of the boys
are somewhere they ain't supposed to be

The breeze is blowin' me a new perfume
It's givin' my heart a little elbow room
And the kids are lightin' firecrackers
Boom! Boom! Boom!

Paying around

I've been playing around with the look of the blog some - adding things to my sidebar.

At this point I added a link to the HERO games site, using a picture of the 5th Revised rulebook. I also have a "music of the week" that I plan to change on weekends, to reflect what I have been listening to the last week, and a "Lifetime music Award" where I will post the covers to 5 of my favorite albums of all time. Every few weeks or so, I'll switch those, and add just the text of the previous 5 to the "Previous winners". I'll be keeping a running list of my all time favorite albums that way. :)

Hopefully the side crawl won't get too long. :)


I'll be adding stuff and playing around with it more.
If you have any comments please leave a comment. :)

I hate Father's Day

Give this post, today's shouldn't come as any surprise.

My father was an alcoholic. I grew up in a subtly abusive home- verbally abusive, and there was physical abuse, but it wasn't fists, but more subtle things. My father committed suicide, mostly due to complications of alcoholism (advanced stages of cirrosis).
I never liked him, and never really loved him. I never in my entire life knew him sober. He drank a 5th of vodka a day for as long as I could remember.

So father images don't really bring to mind good things to me.

Add to the fact that I want children, but we have some medical complications that may prevent that, so the concept of me being called father seem rather remote.


So yeah, all in all, I hate fathers day. I don't even go to church today, because if I hear "Happy Father's Day!" in a bright and cheerful voice too many times,I may want to hit something. Best to stay at home, and avoid the problem.

Can we move on to the next holiday please?

Women in the Front

I've always enjoyed rock bands with a female lead vocalist. Pat Benatar is one of my favorite singers of all time, and I love Lana Lane, enjoy Heart, Lita Ford, Joan Jett. However rock has usually been a male dominated music genre.

When I first got into progressive rock, I had discovered Plato's Halo on MP3.com (still waiting for their fist album, but I down have 6 songs they have put up over the years for download). That was also when I discovered Lana, and a whole subgenre of Goth/Metal - Beauty and the Beast. Music is dark, gothic or very metal, and there are two vocalists - a deathmetal/numetal growler and a female singer doing beautiful almost operatic style vocals above it. I loved the contrast. When I first heard Evanescence on the raido my first thought was “They are playing the kind of music I listen to on the radio?!?!.” That doesn't happen often

Recently I have been really listening to my Eurometal stuff, that I have been getting an album here, an album there over the last 3 or 4 years. And a number of them are female led. So mostly this post is celebrating the female led rock/metal bands I have listened to, liked, or discovered in the last 5 or so years.

Give a listen to (bolded bands are the most recommended)
After Forever.
Lacuna Coil
Within Temptation
Sins of Thy Beloved
Almora
Stream of Passion
Oratory
Arwen
Nightwish
Fireflight
Tristiana
Krypteria
Therion
Theater of Tragedy
Edenbridge


And thanks to the Mistress, who spawned this post with an offhand comment on her blog.

Countdown

Saw this and had to post it. :)
Thanks Kim


Get this and other HP countdowns at LeakyNews.com

Back and memeing

Appetizer
Fill in the blank: The best thing about where I live is _________________…
My house payment. :)

Soup
Create a new name for a deodorant (like “Flower Fresh” or “Shower Scent”).
Impressively unscented. I hate scented deoderant, shampoo ect.

Salad
What was the last piece of software you installed onto your computer?
Pixwizard - a simple little graphics editor.

Main Course
If you were to receive a superlative award today beginning with the words ”Most likely to…”, what would the rest of the phrase say?
Most likely to stay married forever.

Dessert
What two colors do you like to wear together?
Black and whatever. Often Red or Grey.




Top 5 albums on your wishlist right now.....

Axenstar - Final Requiem. A recently discovered Eurometal band that I really like.


LL Cool J - All World. I only know a few of his, but I like what I have heard.


After Forever - After Forever. Most recent album from this Beauty and the Beast band. One of my favorite bands, and my absolute favorite in the sub-genre


Chilliwack - Wanna Be a Star. I have this on vinyl, only recently became aware of the CD re-release. An old favorite.


James Otto - Days of Our Lives. This guy guested on the new Cowboy Troy CD, and is apparently affiliated with the MuzicMafia. :) Good Credentials, and I like what I heard.

Gamer purity

Now remember when reading this that it is a purity test - the higher the number the more pure, the lower the number the more you have done that specific thing.

Your Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
Category	Your Score	Average
Hacklust	50.94% Will kill for XP	53.5%
Sensitive Roleplaying	17.72% There is no player. There is only.... Zuul.	54.7%
GM Experience	35.51% Closer to a novel than to a campaign	69.4%
Systems Knowledge	84.46% Played in a couple of campaigns	90.4%
Livin' La Vida Dorka	47.13% Has interesting conversations in public	63.3%
You are 51.11% pure Average Score: 68.8%
Take The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Test and see how you match up! (By The Ferrett)

What I play

On a thread on RPGnet, I post the following - in answer to a question about what kind of characters I play. Now I have certain archtypes I tend towards, and others I use all the time, but I realized there is something stylistically similar to all of my favorite characters:

Personality type - I tend to play "The Seeker" a character out to improve his abilities, his knowledge, his understanding. I never play anyone who has found this, but is looking.

I mostly play fantasy or superheroes.

Martial Artists (Monks in Fantasy, or Kung Fu types in supers) - they seek inner peace, enlightenment, to be the best dang fighter on the planet; lots of different specifics, but they all focus on being a good hand to hand fighters, and have something they are looking for.

Mages are common for me in fantasy - Again self understanding, and usually trying to become, not the most powerful mage, but the one that truly understands magic and all it's various aspects.

Holy Warriors are really common for me in fantasy setting - seeking truth through prayer and faith, and holding the ground against the forces of entropy and evil.

Powered Armor are not uncommon - the scientists with the unquenchable thirst for knowledge, with the desire to make his armor even better than it is, to empirically find truth (rather than fact).

__________________

It's official

The horse with the broken leg is being put out of it's misery.

"Battlestar" gets grounded by Sci Fi By Nellie Andreeva
Fri Jun 1, 4:27 AM ET



The upcoming fourth season of Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" will be its final one after all.

After months of speculation, the show's producers are set to make the announcement at a press conference Friday.

Ending "Battlestar" with the upcoming 22-episode fourth season was a creative decision made by the hit show's executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick.

"This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and, finally, an end," Eick and Moore said in a statement Thursday. "Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end, and we've decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there -- we're going out with a bang."

The fourth and final season of "Galactica" will kick off in November with "Razor," an extended two-hour episode, with the rest of the season slated to run beginning in early 2008.

Sci Fi executive vp original programming Mark Stern said the channel's brass "respect the producers' decision to end the series."

For months, Sci Fi had dispelled rumors about "Battlestar" ending its run after the fourth season.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the show's stars, Edward James Olmos, was quoted as saying that the upcoming batch of episodes were definitely the last ones. Sci Fi issued a statement denying such a decision had been made.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Well I can't say as I'm surprised. 3rd season sucked by most accounts, and to have the characters singing a Dylan tune.... sigh. Meandering plots, annoying character development....

We can hope with the knowledge of one season left to finish, everything will tighten up and be as good* as earlier seasons. To me this is a good thing. Gives them a chance to go out good rather than badly, which is where the show was headed.


* I use that relatively - BSG is a decent show, but doesn't stand up to B5, Stagate: Atlantis, DS9, or even the original BSG. But it is decent.