Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird gets her nerd on after being given some glasses to wear for a video spot during Storm Media Day at the Furtado Center (Ken Lambert/Seattle Times).
"I just wanted to say that I'm a nerd, and I'm here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds. I mean uh, all our lives we've been laughed at and made to feel inferior. And tonight, those bastards, they trashed our house. Why? Cause we're smart? Cause we look different? Well, we're not. I'm a nerd, and uh, I'm pretty proud of it."
Britain's Prince William stands in front of artist Bridget Riley's work, Cataract 3, during his tour of of the Whitechapel Gallery London (Andrew Winning, AP).
What you need is a fatty-boom-batty blunt, and I guarantee you'll be seeing a sailboat, an ocean, and maybe even some of those big-titted mermaids doing some of that lesbian shit. Look at me. Look at me, you sloppy bitch!
I've been watching a lot of Kevin Smith movies lately. Can you tell?
I went to the premiere of Star Trek at the PacSci IMAX last night, and it was AWESOME!!!! I'm a happy Trekkie. Or Trekker. Or whatever.
Seriously. Go see it. I will go see it with you, if you want.
Forget Trek as you know it. Don't even compare the old films to this one. This was a reboot of EPIC proportions, and it did so without negating anything that came before it on the big or little screens. This is Brand New Trek, and I loved it. I sat through the whole thing with this big shit-eating grin on my face.
It needs to come out on Blu-Ray, like, right now. Somewhere, from the depths of outer space, Gene Roddenberry is looking down on JJ Abrams and beaming.
Good News: Lauren Jackson has re-signed with the Seattle Storm for the 2009 season! This makes me look forward to the summer now. LJ doesn't belong in Phoenix. She belongs here in the PNW with her BFF Sue Bird.
I haven't blogged much about the Storm this off-season, but I'm excited now, so expect more about the WNBA from now until September.
Bad News: Actor, Comedian, Author, Chef, and just all-around Awesome man Dom DeLuise passed away yesterday at age 75 after a year-long battle with cancer.
A show of hands from those new to the Sea Gals after final tryouts for the Seahawks cheer squad. Twelve of the 28 women are neophytes this year. (Daniel Berman / Special to SeattlePI.com)
"Some of you look familiar. Raise your hand if you've ever worked the swing shift at 'The Triple Nipple' please? Thank you. The rest of you are dismissed."
Saturday, as I blogged previously, was Free Comic Book Day. I wasn't planning on being at the Comic Stop for it, but was pressed into service the night before. I'm always happy to help out.
I could recap the entire day, but since I was Twittering through the whole thing, I'll just use some those to help highlight the event.
10:42am: I know FCBD is exciting, but shaking the door still won't make me open it, sir. We open at 11. Please be patient.
10:55am: Okay...time to open. Let Free Comic Book Day begin!
11:00am: OMG! NERRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!
11:19am: 17 minutes in, and our supplies are depleted by over 50%.
12:15pm: Quarter after Twelve...first Kilt through the door. That's unusual. I would have expected at least 2 in the initial wave.
12:18pm: The "Owly" comics are all gone. I repeat...no more "Owly."
12:23pm: Just met the coolest young lady, named "Willow," who was complaining about how she's the only girl she knows who games and reads comics.
12:24pm: She needs to either convert her friends, or get new ones, because that's sad. Girl Geeks are Awesome.
12:44pm: Little Kid: "What's this?" Me: "Free comic books. Want some?" LK: "Yeah! Do you have free action figures too?" Me: "You're awesome."
1:02pm: Two Hours in...Five titles left on the table.
3:25pm: We have 6 free comics left. SIX! It's the IDW Transformers/GI Joe comic.
3:41pm: Down to 3 comics now...can we "sell" out of Free Comics? Yes We Can.
3:43pm: SOLD OUT! FCBD is over. Yay!
After that, I just hung out at the Stop for a while. Bogath dropped in and was showing us pictures of his recent trip to China with Deuce, and then he and I grabbed some dinner with 2.0 and Eliece. All in all, a great day. Happy nerds, fun with friends...what else can you ask for?
How about another day just like it? On Sunday morning, a group of us caught an early showing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I liked it as a fun action movie, and Hugh Jackman owns the role of Logan completely. I know that there were a bunch of weird "that wasn't in the comics" and "this continuity is completely wonked" stuff in the film, but I'm not much of a Marvel Comics reader so those didn't bother me too much. I even wasn't too bothered by Taylor Kitsch as Gambit.
After the movie, some of us headed over to Qdoba for lunch and to talk about the movie, as well as other awesome movies coming up (Star Trek, Terminator, Transformers 2, GI Joe, etc.). After lunch, Deuce and I went to Palindrome's place. Deuce shopped around online for a new laptop while we watched the Mariner's game on TV. At the time, it was Oakland 4, Seattle 2, in the 7th inning. This will be important later.
We take off a short time later for Best Buy, and the game is still going..and going...the Mariner's tied it up in the 9th inning, you see. Deuce buys his computer, we go back to Paul's...game's still going. We leave Paul's, grab snacks at Dairy Queen, and go to George's...game is still going. Eventually, Oakland pulls ahead by 3 in the 13th. Ichiro couldn't let that stand, and with a big push the M's tied it right back up in the bottom of the 13th. At this point everyone (including Qtilla, Technogreek, Cheryl, George, and Jonathan) is gathered at George's house watching the game on TV, as we were there for a movie night. By the time Jose Lopez blooped a walk-off single with the bases loaded in the 15th to win it, we were all relieved.
We watched the first of the two movies (Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2 were on the agenda last night) and ordered dinner. Once it arrived, we sat around eating while Deuce talked about his China trip, and we enjoyed the conversation so much that we never got to the second movie.
It's the geek version of Christmas. You go to your local comic book store, and they give you all kinds of free comics from all variety of publishers. Comics for the younger kids, the older kids, and it's just a lot of fun.
While you're in the store nearest you, feel free to browse around. They might be having a sale on action figures, t-shirts, or maybe you find a comic book or trade paperback you want to try - if you're new to comics. If you are, you're the target demo today.
Also, try and buy something, even if it's just a single comic. Don't just horde the free goodies, okay? It's rude.
Go to the Free Comic Book Day website, and use their locator to find a participating comic book store near where you live.
If you live in the greater Seattle area, as I do, I suggest you go to any of the three Comic Stop locations (Lynnwood, Everett, or Redmond) and check out FCBD.
I'll be at the Lynnwood store. Hope to see you there!
For the last few days, and off and on since I was laid off, I've been putting in some time behind the register at the Comic Stop whenever they've needed someone to fill in. I'm happy to do it, and it gets me out of the house, and the pay (free comics) can't be beat.
Yesterday was the first day I'd "opened" on my own, and it felt...good. It's been ages since I've worked retail, but going in yesterday, using a key in the back door, turning on the lights, the register, the stereo? Something about that made me feel useful in a way I hadn't felt in a very long time.
Back in high school, I worked at a local video store called "Valley Video." It's gone now, having been bought up by Blockbuster several years ago (after the owners attempted Jewish Lightning). I wish I had pictures of the place - if I do, they're buried in a box somewhere deep in a closet. No one on the interwebs has one either, apparently.
I worked at VV for 3 years in high school, and for most summers during college. It was an exciting time for the home video business. VHS was king, Sell-Through pricing was just starting to surface (I think "Batman" was the first VHS release to be priced to sell, and we all owned copies), and I'm not sure I've ever had as much fun at any job as I did at the video store.
Nathan worked there for a long time, too...a lot of my friends cycled through Valley Video. I worked most nights after school, and weekends. If I wasn't at school, or in band practice, or sleeping, I was likely working.
This was back in the pre-PC days, too. We would often be watching something wildly inappropriate (I think we did a "Porky's" marathon one day) on the monitor behind the counter. Speakers all over the store would carry the audio of whatever we were watching, and a "No 'R' Rateds" policy was put in place after a while. Sometimes we'd hook up one of the rental Nintendos and play Mario Bros. or Duck Hunt for hours.
Oftentimes we'd even hold conversations not unlike this:
Randal Graves: [talking about the second Death Star] A construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I'll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers.
Dante Hicks: Not just Imperials, is what you're getting at...
Randal Graves: Exactly. In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average storm trooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms.
Dante Hicks: All right, so even if independent contractors are working on the Death Star, why are you uneasy with its destruction?
Randal Graves: All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed - casualties of a war they had nothing to do with.
[notices Dante's confusion]
Randal Graves: All right, look-you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia - this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
Customers would sometimes have to wait out these conversations, or at least let us finish a level on the NES, but they didn't (often) seem to mind. A lot of the regulars enjoyed chatting with us anyway, and some would take over the games if we really got busy.
I learned a lot working there. I learned how to splice and cut and repair VHS tapes - a skill lost to the ages now. I honed my work ethic, began a life-long obsession with facing my bills, and it was just one more thing that a lot of kids now don't get to experience. I mean, who gives a business' keys, alarm codes, and safe combinations to a 15 year-old anymore?
Working at Valley Video was the one and only time I've ever had a gun drawn on me. We weren't being robbed, but I was opening the store one snowy winter's day, and I fat-fingered the alarm code with my gloved hand. I got it turned off, but not before the silent alarm went out to the police department. I'm standing at the counter, (lights off in the place since it was a good hour until the store opened), popcorn is popping, I've got a movie on, and I'm booting up the computers and cashing in the tills. Next thing I know, I'm being told to stop what I'm doing and to turn around.
See, the cops came in the back door, through the mananger's office/back room, and all they could see was some dude playing with money. I didn't hear them come in, because I had the volume WAY up on the store's system because I didn't have to turn it down yet.
I turn around, and there are two of Juneau's Finest - one holding a gun, the other holding back a dog - expecting me to flip my shit. Which I did internally, but I managed to keep it together long enough to hand them my ID, show them my keys, and to call the store owners so that they could claim me as their employee (which they did, Thank God).
After that, it was cool. One of the cops (who had an account) rented a couple of movies - on the house, of course - the other grabbed some freshly popped popcorn, and they went back out to protect the citizens while I locked the back door behind them and then promptly ran to the bathroom to pee.
All this to say that I had a really good day yesterday. I felt like I was productive, and helpful, and as is often the case, reflective of days when I felt like that all the time.
Maybe I need to figure out a way to get back to that somehow.
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