This touring bus has an advertisement for the company’s website, but the placement of the handle for the cargo doors is… unfortunate, as it obscures the top of the “o” in “.com”—changing it into an entirely different word.
And weren’t those who dedicated themselves to the service of Vesta called Vestal virgins? I’m just sayin’…
(Once again, I’m afraid to see what search terms are going to bring people here…)
Bumper sticker spotted on a Corner Bakery delivery van:
It reminds me of the warnings you see on cardboard coffee cups that say things like, “The beverage you are about to enjoy is extremely hot.” Though my favorite is still one from the late, lamented* Diedrich Coffee that said, “Of course it’s hot!”
*OK, they’re not completely gone—there are still two stores left in Orange County since Starbucks bought them out and either closed or converted the rest. *grumble*
The following two “Weird Al” Yankovic songs popped up sequentially on the iPod the other day:
Sometimes random shuffle makes you wonder whether the software knows more about the songs than what’s in the ID3 tag.
I’ve held off on posting funny spam subject lines lately, but I just had to comment on this pair. First up:
Mazrim Taim was one of those, raising an army and ravaging Saldaea before he was taken.
It’s a quote from Lord of Chaos, the 6th book in Robert Jordan’s fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. The next one is a bit less obvious:
If Lan was attempting jokes, however feeble and wrongheaded, he was changing.
I wasn’t sure about this one, since there must be other stories with characters named Lan, but Google Book Search found it in book 5, The Fires of Heaven.
I’ve seen lots of spam that used filler from The Wizard of Oz and other novels old enough to be in the public domain. Project Gutenberg and the like have been transcribing them, making free plain-text ebooks for years, making it easy to snag a couple of lines of actual English text.
In theory this should be harder to identify as filler than randomly-generated text. Continue reading
Today DC Comics released The Flash: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, a collection of classic Flash stories ranging from 1947–1994. Back in February, when they announced the contents, I did a point-by-point comparison of the stories to be included and the stories that appeared in the 1991 book, The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told.
When I picked it up, I noticed that the paper was lower quality. The 1991 book was printed on thicker, almost glossy paper. It wasn’t archive level, as it’s noticeably yellowed over 16 years. The new book is certainly above newsprint, but the paper is thinner and matte. Of course, it’s still better paper—and better printing—than the stories originally got!
It looks like Johanna Draper-Carlson (Comics Worth Reading) was right when she suggested that the new Greatest Stories books are aimed at another audience: not the fan who wants a collection of classic stories, but a casual reader who might be interested in a sampler.
Alas, no Bart Allen cameo. The final 2 pages of Flash v2 #91, which were really a teaser for “Reckless Youth” and not part of “Out of Time,” were left out. But speaking of that story, Mark Waid’s introduction to the book contains a statement that, given recent events, takes on an unintended poignancy:
That they chose “Out of Time”—one written by me—is, I insist, simply a lucky byproduct of their real intent: to showcase the artwork of Mike Wieringo, a most deserving comics superstar whose interpretation of Wally as the Flash set a standard unsurpassed to this day.
This weekend I re-read Tellos, a fantasy comic book that ran from 1999-2000. Writer Todd Dezago and artist Mike Wieringo took a 6-month hiatus to prepare the next story arc, but that arc never materialized. Just a few one-shots and an anthology mini that explored backstories and aftermath, with a few hints at the upcoming story. Though from the sketches and posts on Wieringo’s blog—the latest (at left) posted just last Friday, it was clear they were working on relaunching the series, possibly this year.
So it came as a real shock when I checked my e-mail this morning and saw a post on Warren Ellis’ Bad Signal saying that Mike Wieringo died yesterday at the age of 44.
A second obituary appears at Comic Book Resources. Newsarama also spoke with his friends and collaborators, collecting remembrances from Mark Waid, Todd Dezago and Karl Kesel.
The Mark Waid/Mike Wieringo run on The Flash was one of my favorites. Even though other artists drew Wally West for longer, it’s “’Ringo’s” take that I always associate with the character. That run got me interested in Tellos, which sits alongside Chronos and Chase as a favorite series that should have lasted longer than it did. Continue reading
Went out to see Stardust with a group of friends, and we all enjoyed it. People have been comparing it to The Princess Bride, and it’s an apt comparison: both are light-hearted fantasy adventures with a love story at the heart. Stardust takes itself a bit more seriously, though there’s plenty of humor.
The concept: Three groups of people pursue a fallen star (in this world, a woman). Tristran wants to bring the star back to impress a girl. The cruel princes of Stormhold are seeking the necklace she wears; the one who claims the gem claims the throne. The witch Lamia wants to cut out her heart to restore her own youth for another 400 years. Tristran gets there first, but has to bring her back without the more malicious seekers reaching her.
There’s swordplay, magic, betrayal, comedy, and romance. Michelle Pfeiffer throws herself gleefully into her role as the witch Lamia. Prince Septimus oozes slime as a cross between Prince Humperdink and Professor Snape. And Robert De Niro’s Captain Shakespeare is… indescribable. Charlie Cox as Tristran and Claire Danes as Yvaine (the star) manage to hold their own with the impressive cast of villains and supporting characters.
I was the only one of the four who had read the original novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, but for the most part I didn’t mind the changes. I did think the climactic battle got a bit overblown after a while, and I really missed one aspect of Una’s character which is revealed near the end of the book.
On a related note, it seems that in the last 3 weeks, the movie “adaptation” (and I use the term loosely) of The Dark Is Rising has been retitled as The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, probably reflecting how far it seems to have strayed from the source material.
Stardust does it right: change the details, or even the structure if you have to, to make it work in a different medium. But stay true to the heart and spirit of the book.
