Archive for March, 2006

(Rae, take note! This one is for you!)

Who’s the coolest guy in town? Who turns heads whenever he’s around?

iGuy! Now available at Amazon…

(HT: Alissa Clark.)

On May 6th, 2006, there is something you must do: Go into a comic shop, and get free merchandise.

That’s right; for the fourth year in a row, the American comic book industry is dedicating one day to spreading the love of comic books far and wide with freebies! In most cases, publishers (such as, say, Gemstone) produce special books for this event — though I’ve known some independant publishers to take the opportunity to clear out their backstock, too. Either way, it isn’t very often you can walk out of a bookstore with a pile of free books! (Well, with their permission, at least.)

Not only can you grab a bunch of free swag, though; Free Comic Book Day is also one of the best opportunities (outside of a convention) to meet your favorite creators! That’s how I first met Buzzboy’s John Gallagher. (My Buzzboy Diner t-shirt is hands-down the most prized possession in my wardrobe, John!)

So now that I’ve hyped the event so much, you’re probably wondering, “what will Gemstone Publishing be offering this year?” I thought you’d never ask! This year’s FCBD issue contains the following selections from an all-star cast of creators:

• Metaphorically Spanking, by Don Rosa
• Queen of the Ant Farm, by Pat and Shelly Block
• Their Loaded Forebear, by William van Horn

It doesn’t get much better than that! So track down your nearest comic shop (you can use the Comic Shop Locator Service box on the sidebar or call 1.800.COMIC.BOOK) and beat a path to their door on Saturday, May 6th!

Thanks to BrowserCam, I was able to virtually test Second Mouse on a number of browsers. There’s still a few problems with the sidebar in older versions of IE (that is, anything before version 6.0), but other than that it should be looking right to everyone! (Of course, Netscape Navigator 4 doesn’t count. If you use Netscape 4 as your primary browser, my page layout is the least of your worries!)

If only Internet Explorer had adopted negative-margins sooner… =/

From The Evening Sun: “Man shot during robbery attempt near Gettysburg“

An attempted robbery and shooting in a Gettysburg-area gun shop Saturday morning ended when the two juvenile suspects were apprehended following a short chase.

According to state police in Gettysburg, two juveniles brandishing weapons and wearing military-type clothing entered Lincoln Trading Post, 1895A York Road, in Straban Township, at 11:30 a.m. and ordered everybody on the floor.

One man was shot multiple times before the suspects fled the scene.

Do you know where the Lincoln Trading Post is? No? I’m not surprised; it’s a few miles away from the sleepy little town of Gettysburg, PA. (Sure, the place was a hotspot in the 1860s, but these days its busiest moments are school field trips and the annual “Battle of Gettysburg” re-enactments that take place July 1-3.)

This is one of those rare moments (for small-town folk) where the abstract news hits home. Case in point: my little brother and sister knew one of the attackers (16 year old Elliot Miller). That’s just… strange.

Maybe a robbery/shooting by a minor isn’t a big deal where you live (or where I live for that matter; I’m just a few miles north of Baltimore!), but for the Sleepy Little Town of Gettysburg, this is a shock.

Sarah passed me a link for video of WHTM’s report, but it takes me forever to get it to load in IE, and I think it caused a crash with Firefox.

Ah, my favorite guilty pleasure. Homestar Runner.

So it doesn’t have much to do with the church, or my family, or politics. Oh well. That stuff would be worth very little if you had to sacrifice all joy and pleasure for it, now wouldn’t it?

Do yourself a favor and have a good laugh at the expense of American (un)culture; check out The Brothers Chaps’ latest, lampooning just about every single candy promotion over the past twenty years in their debut of “Sblounskched!” — the newest chocolate bar to hit the shelves… like a brick.

You’ve got the munch, />the crisp and the crunch, />livin’ in the gutter with grandma…

When coach puts you in, />you gotta go for the win. />Y2K turned out all riiiight!

SBLOUNSKCHED! You can do it! />SBLOUNSKCHED! Crunchy chew it! />Who’s got the money?!?

You got… SBLOUNSKCHED!