Archive for February, 2006

Mike “Plew” Plewiak from Volunteers4Christ and Cornerstone Church of Knoxville just posted this quote he found on Reformation Theology from a sermon that was preached c.180 AD:

[H]e was lifted up upon a tree and an inscription was attached indicating who was being killed. Who was it? It is a grievous thing to tell, but a most fearful thing to refrain from telling. But listen, as you tremble before him on whose account the earth trembled!
He who hung the earth in place is hanged.
He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place.
He who made all things fast is made fast on a tree.
The Sovereign is insulted.
God is murdered.
The King of Israel is destroyed by an Israelite hand.
This is the One who made the heavens and the earth,
and formed mankind in the beginning,
The One proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets,
The One enfleshed in a virgin,
The One hanged on a tree,
The One buried in the earth,
The One raised from the dead and who went up into the heights of heaven,
The One sitting at the right hand of the Father,
The One having all authority to judge and save,
Through Whom the Father made the things which exist from the beginning of time.
This One is “the Alpha and the Omega,”
This One is “the beginning and the end”
The beginning indescribable and the end incomprehensible.
This One is the Christ.
This One is the King.
This One is Jesus.
This One is the Leader.
This One is the Lord.
This One is the One who rose from the dead.
This One is the One sitting on the right hand of the Father.
He bears the Father and is borne by the Father.
“To him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.”

Forget what Dan Brown told you: Constantine didn’t create the Christian’s idea of Jesus. It’s true, we’ve believed it the whole time, and it’s never gonna change!

Is it wrong for me to chuckle at what we’ve done?

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #666 was shipped out to retailers on February 15th. Yes, you heard right: issue number 666… and as Bill at Comix Connection pointed out, in this issue, “Mickey Mouse goes to Hell.”

And he’s right! In this issue, we’ve got a 37-page Italian adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, complete with Alighieri-inspired terza rima stanzas! I really have to hand it to Dwight Decker and David Gerstein; they did a smash-up job with the script!

You can see some of the art over at Scoop! The ending is a bit of a surprise, too! ::wink, wink::

I just think this thing’s cool. It’s neat how “the job” spills over into the rest of my life, too: I was asked to read over the script, and decided to take the opportunity to finally read Dante’s original work (translated, though — I don’t know Italian that well!). It struck me that his journey through Hell seemed to be more an allegory for this life than an account of how he pictured the everlasting Gehenna.

I have to admit I didn’t finish reading Inferno before I had to return it to the library, but I was drawn to the beauty and genius of his poetry in a way I never would have been if I’d had to read his work in school. In other words, a comic book led me to appreciate classic literature in a way no teacher ever could.

So what have I been up to lately (seeing as how I obviously haven’t been posting)?

Well, there’s the little mama with a bun in the oven! Since we’ve got a girl and we’ll be having a boy, we’re starting to look around at 3-bedroom living arrangements in the area. You’d think Maryland didn’t want families living in the state, what with how ludicrous the housing market is compared with the average household income! (Wait, I forgot: we’re supposed to let the State raise our kids while both parents work! Yeah… the day I send Nicole out to get a job is the day I die. Literally!)

I’ve also been talking to a few folks about some small-scale web design projects I can do on the side. As such, I’ve been brushing up on the world of web design, and boy, was I in for a pleasant shock! I’ve been drooling over some of the CSS and AJAX developments that have transpired in the (nearly) two years I’ve been focusing on print design.

And I’ve been working, of course. (I’ve been trying to get some promotional stuff started, too…) I won’t be at the New York convention this weekend, but if you’re there, swing by the Gemstone booth and say hi to Jamie and Sara! They’ll be there to hype all things Gemstone.

There’s my boy!

Daddy’s been busy making preparations for the little guy, and Katie has offered her booster seat to her little brother — on the condition that she can sit in a “big chair” at the kitchen table, of course.

Meanwhile, “Shu-shu” (Katie insists on calling him that!) has been happily kicking his mommy for a few weeks now, and Katie and Daddy have written our first song about him:

Little brother Shu-Shu />Crawling ‘cross the ‘partment />Scooping up the dollies />And bopping ‘em on the head!

(Along came the big sister and she said…)

Little brother Shu-Shu />I don’t want to see you />Scooping up my dollies />And bopping ‘em on the head!

I’ll give you three more chances, />And if you don’t behave, />I’ll tell Mommy on you!

From Scoop:

Mickey Mouse #286 starts the party with “Coming Up Short,” a feature-length epic by Stefan Petrucha (The X-Files) and Paco Rodriguez. Mickey and Eega Beeva time travel to the island of Torgania in the year 2225, where they’ve heard that futuristic jousters participate in a thrilling tournament, riding atop giant dogs and cats. But wouldn’t you know it? Torgania in 2225 is ruled by despotic king Torga, whose animals are really normal size. The jousters have been shrunken to rat-size with a ray… and Mickey soon meets the same fate! To win back his size and freedom and return to 2006, our highly embarrassed Mouse must become a master jouster, a position he’s in no way physically suited for. Uh-oh!

You know how they say, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”? Well, that’s doubly-true for Mickey Mouse & Friends. I’ll bet few could have guessed that lurking behind an innocent-looking “Mickey trips while cat chases Pluto” cover lies a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat adventure featuring both time traveling and gladiatorial battles! Yup, we like to under-sell and over-deliver here at Gemstone.

Speaking of selling and delivering, this issue is slated to be on shelves February 22, so if you want a copy, you’d better act fast! Just enter your ZIP Code in the Find a Comic Shop search box on the right (or call 1-888-COMIC BOOK), and you’ll get a list of the comic book shops nearest you. Call one of them up today to reserve your copy! (Special thanks to Diamond Comic Distributors for providing the Comic Shop Locator Service!)