6 ongoing monthly series, 3 monthly miniseries, 1 weekly, and 5 that are sporadic. Continue reading
Category: Entertainment
Cookie Fortune
Spotted on the front window of a Pei Wei Asian Diner in Lake Forest.
Now there’s an opening line!
I just spotted an advance fee fraud pitch in the spamtraps that started out with the greeting: Dear Trusting Friend.
I suppose the scammer could have meant “trusted friend,” which is still odd for an introduction, but makes a little more sense. Of course, if you take “trusting” to the extreme—i.e. gullible—you’ve just described the type of mark they’re looking for.
As a bonus: only two* of the ~270 Google hits for the phrase is not a reference to 419-style letters using the same opening. People just don’t write things like that normally, which makes it a pretty good indicator.
*I didn’t look at all 270, but there were only 30 hits by the time Google filtered out duplicates. And most of those were clearly recognizable just from the excerpt on the search results pages. For the record, both of the two non-scam hits used it as a description, not a greeting.
Chatspeak IRL
Went to the comic store on a late lunch today. As I got in the car, I saw the clerk locking the door. At 2:00, it seemed a bit early for closing, but then I noticed he had just hung up a sign that said:
AFK BRB
A bit cryptic to the uninitiated*, but probably completely understood by the target audience.
*And for the uninitiated, that’s “Away From Keyboard” and “Be Right Back,” common online abbreviations that have made the transition from IRC chat to modern IM. Though I suppose in this case it could be “Away From Kounter.” Oh, and IRL=”In Real Life.”
The Flash Companion
I just turned in final drafts for the last of three articles I’m contributing to TwoMorrows’ upcoming book, The Flash Companion by Keith Dallas.
The book covers the entire history of the Flash, from Jay Garrick through Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen. It’s full of articles, artwork, and interviews with writers, artists, with a cover by Don Kramer and Moose Baumann. My articles are part of the Rogues Gallery section.
The Flash Companion is due in June July* 2008, and is already available for pre-order on Amazon.
Also worth checking out: some interesting tidbits on a related Comic Bloc forum thread. [Edit] Sadly, these were lost when the board crashed in May 2008 and had to restore from a 7-month-old backup.
Now, off to celebrate. Happy new year, everyone!
*Update: (January 10) – I’ve just been informed that the release date has been pushed back to July.
The Ballad of Barry Allen
I just discovered that They’re Everywhere, the album featuring the Flash-themed song, “The Ballad of Barry Allen,” is now available on Amazon’s MP3 store. The band, Jim’s Big Ego, is headed by the nephew of legendary Flash artist Carmine Infantino, who did the cover artwork on the album.
And yes, the song’s actually good!
It’s been available on iTunes (which is how I originally bought it) and CD before, but it’s worth mentioning since Amazon’s music downloads, like Slabster’s, are just plain MP3s. No DRM, no account activation, no need to authorize computers or stick with one company’s player—hardware or software.
There’s also a fan music video, “Seems so slow,” that uses clips from the Justice League and Teen Titans cartoons:
See also: Flash Music.
P.S. Would you believe this is the first time I’ve actually embedded a YouTube video in this blog? I’m so behind the times, I know…
Links: Safety Last
Forklift Driver Klaus (a.k.a. Staplerfahrer Klaus)- a parody of work safety films in which a forklift driver blunders through his first day on the job, maiming fellow employees left and right. German with English subtitles. (via TV Tropes: Scare Em Straight)
And, on a more serious note, the Internet Storm Center is reporting on people finding malware pre-installed on digital picture frames, memory cards, etc. Something to watch out for with portable devices that can connect to your computer.