This morning I was really close to skipping right past Exit 28 and driving to Ashville instead of going to work. But I didn't b/c I'm a robot instead of an alien. (thanks a lot, Heroes. Stupid show...) I still remain all tightly wound. Physically as well as, perhaps, mentally.

You know how your body sometimes just wants to snap? Occasionally, I think I could do something violent. Like I was pumping gas and holding the handle really tight b/c somehow tensing ones muscles seems to direct tension out through them... but the gas thing pops and stops when it's going too fast, right? It was a mildly difficult conscience decision to not take the nozzle out of the gas tank and smash it into the pump.

That probably would have been expensive tho.

So I took one of those Lexapro pills that the psych doctor gave me a few months ago and that I've left sitting in my car ever since. I wonder if they can go bad after being left in the extreme heat of a car during the entire NC summer...

If I never post anything again, it means that they do, in fact, go bad and they will kill you.

mmmm... empirical evidence...

Ok... I'm going to try this again... I guess. I hate computers.
Right. Mini-report on the mini-convention. This was the first time I'd been to a comic book show as a "dealer" instead of a random guy walking around with no money. Which was good on so many levels. There was so much stuff there that looked really great. Comics Planet had a rack of beautiful EC's, which were WAY out of my price range. So I actually bought nothing. Which was strange for me in addition to good. But the whole thing was a lot of fun... Allison helped me all day, and Bryan stopped by to check it out and even paid the $3 to get in. His presence, of course, is what led to all the picture taking. How freaking cute is this? If any significant portion of the comic book collecting population was female, I think I would have seen sales rise during this particular depicted period of the day.
"Za-Zow! Buy some comics!"	"For instance these moderately high-grade but totally not rare at all X-Men issues. Acts of Vengeance... what could be better?"	"Or buy something totally different... or nothing at all... It's not like I care anyway."
So... here's Allison and most of my backboard (or whatever it's called)... Comic collectors can definitely be single-minded in their task. How else can you explain the lack of purchases off of that board with her as the sales pitch? I reckon you can see some of the stuff that's underneath in that other picture. I spent a lot of time putting things together in sets and marking them down, so I was glad that at least one person (the guy in blue) picked up a few complete runs of stuff.
"Marvels are on your left, DC's are on your right; everything else is underneath."	"Marvels are on your left, DC's are on your right; everything else is underneath." If I say that one more time, Allison is going to go nuts.	"Marvels are on your left, DC's are on your right; everything else is..." oops... yep... there she goes...
	So... what sold? Iron Man. I went in with a near intact run of Iron Man from 64 up to the beginning of the current series and left with hardly any IM issues at all. Several people left with 1 or 2, but several more left with big chunks of the series. Which confuses me a bit... Recently, on the best news show in Charlotte (as voted on by me), the sexiest woman in Charlotte (as voted on by readers of Creative Loafing) spoke with some old guy who dealt sports memorabilia. Apparently, once OJ started being a douche, the values of OJ collectibles quite rather plummeted. When Tony Stark decides to start being a douche, however, everyone wants his stuff. Not-a-douche = people who don't punch Captain America in the face. Perhaps that is art's big "fuck you" to life. - "Hey Life. This whole sincerest form of flattery thing? It's over. It is done. Fuck you."
Perhaps I should note that I, personally, am actually more of the life-imitates-art kind of guy. Art is where people dream, right? How many people dream of the status quo? If you think everything is great right now, you're just not looking hard enough. Go paint a picture.
What else... Everyone was pretty interested in the Albedo 2, Primer 2, and TMNT 1, but I had them priced too high to sell. Which, honestly, was kind of the point. I just wanted people to come talk to me. And maybe buy some other stuff, but those are my best comics, so you only get them if you wanna pay me a LOT. :) I think that, maybe, one guy looked at the CGC Magnus 1, and no one looked through the Valiant boxes at all. I didn't really promote that they were available tho, so that's ok. Hopefully when the new Valiant stuff starts coming out, some of the old stuff will pick up again. But probably everyone is thinking that. I was also surprised that nobody picked through the fairly large number of Captain America issues I brought. Steve Rogers >>>>>> Tony Stark. And he's dead. You know, "comic book dead." But I still thought people would be interested. Especially when all that Iron Man stuff started going out the door...
	I wish that I had seen more kids tho. I got a few from the 10-ish year old demographic, and I was able to find something for all of them. I think/hope that I gave them a good deal and that they're happy with what they got. Finding a few issues of Transformers for a little guy and giving him one for free might have been the most fun sale. And the freakiest thing was having someone ask if I had Fantastic Four #132, and I'm like, "Sorry, I think the oldest I have is #115 and then it jumps to 182 or something." My actual oldest issue? #115. The next actual oldest issue? #182. I don't even like FF that much. But it was all fun. Even wheeling all those boxes back-and-forth. Allison was a huge help in bagging and unbagging and rebagging stuff before the show as well as with getting all the boxes alphabetized. I'm kind of OCD when it comes to the alphabet... And an OOOLLLLDDD friend from high school, Richie Ritter, showed up the night before for a concert in town and helped with the alphabet and helped a lot with putting all the boxes in the car. Very cool.
Oh... and I just remembered... See how there are comics on the front of all those boxes in the pictures above? And how that one box on the far right has nothing? It used to house the current Jonah Hex #1, and I was asking $2 for it. The dealer setup on my left (I forgot his name, dammit...) bought it from me for $2 before the show started and put it out on his table for $3. *sigh* I guess that's smart business. I don't think he sold it tho... and I totally stole his idea for folding the table cloth up under the boxes on the table so that the ones under the table were more accessible, so it's all good. Meeting people as a "dealer" just kind of felt different from meeting them as a potential buyer. I guess that should have been obvious. But it was a lot of fun to see things from the other side. I really liked meeting the guy to my right... his booth was as poor to moderately busy as mine was, so we got to talk a bit. I think I got invited to present at his ZombieCon show in Greensboro; if they get Rob, I'm so totally there. I think I also got asked to present in Greenville as well as at the next Charlotte show in December. I'm not sure I have enough stuff to make it worthwhile, but, if I do, I'll definitely go again. And I almost forgot... a couple of guys that I sort of "met" on the CGC boards came over and said hi, which was really nice. I only remember Sal's name at the moment b/c I was trying to remember too much as it was, but it's kind of neat to see that it can be a "community" instead of just a bunch of random guys together. And Shelton stopped by to say hi as well, which was super nice. AND Rick and Dave (the promoters) couldn't have been nicer, more helpful, or happier to have me there.
Weird. Did I just post an entire entry without being a negative dipshit asshole? I think I did. (except for that art thing, maybe, but that hardly counts.) I also just realized that there aren't any pictures taken from my POV behind the table. That's annoying. I should have thought of that...

Labels: Allison, Comic Books

Hey, look... a post where I'm not just quoting other people...
There was one post-"concert" photo that I neglected to post, but only b/c it happened the day after... Allison and Scott and Raven sitting around my house. I feel so... popular. Life Goal #1: Check. Also... unless I'm greatly mistaken... the contents(?) of that table are ("contents" is one of those plural/singular nouns things that sounds like the subject/verb doesn't match, right?) interesting. Or funny. Or not. But maybe I just wanted to talk about the finer points of the word "contents."
A few weeks later Brooke graced us with her presence for a few hours while visiting these fine united states (NOT a proper noun in this case). She chose a good night since Wednesdays are Wongdays at 300 East. As I understand it, Dustin has actually been to 300 East but has no idea what a wong is. These, Dustin, are Wongs. They contain some alcohol.
The most amusing thing about this place is its bathroom doors. There are no words written. No pictures of people in dresses or jeans. None of those circles with a symbol on them that are supposed to mean "man" or "woman." Not even a "V"-shaped space b/t Jesus and Mary Magdalene signifying the sacred feminine. Just some dogs. Before you can take a pee, your drunk ass must correctly locate and identify the dog sporting a rock-hard boner. Then. And only then. May you pee in peace. Now that I think about it, it would probably actually be worse if it was all limp.		After successfully completing the Ordeal, you are at least rewarded with a porceline potty complete with easy-access ashtray. The only place I've ever been that encourages smoking in the boy's room.
wow. I am so about to cry. I just spent the last many hours writing a report about the comic convention... I opened myspace in a separate browser window to look up a profile, and ALL of my IE windows crashed. I so fucking hate myspace.

Labels: Allison, Brooke, Raven, Scott

george bush is at it again. How has he managed to not get shot? Is everyone just more afraid of Dick?

From Sojourners...

Imagine walking into your local library, planning to read a theologian such as Reinhold Niebuhr or Karl Barth, or a popular inspirational work, such as Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life or Harold Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

But instead of finding such important and popular titles, you discover that the religion section has been decimated – stripped of any book that did not appear on a government-approved list.

That's exactly what's happening right now to inmates in federal prisons under a Bush administration policy. As The New York Times put it, "chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries."

The news reports seem implausible. The idea of government bureaucrats drafting a list of approved books on religion seems like something out of Soviet-era Russia, not the United States of America, where freedom of religion – even for those behind prison walls – is something we treasure.

But the reports are true. All of the books and authors named above have been removed from prison libraries. In some instances, according to the Times, chaplains have been forced to dismantle "libraries that had thousands of texts collected over decades, bought by the prisons, or donated by churches and religious groups."

To make matters worse, the contents of the "approved" list are extremely capricious. For example, "80 of the 120 titles on the list for Judaism are from the same Orthodox publishing house," and the list for Christianity "lack[s] materials from early church fathers, liberal theologians and major Protestant denominations."

The Bureau of Prisons says they merely want to ensure prisons are not recruiting grounds for terrorists and other militant groups. So why are they removing the vast majority of materials on faith and religion? And if prisoners are not free to pursue their own faith journeys, what cause for hope should they have?

Christians from across the political and theological spectrum are justifiably outraged. As Mark Earley, president and chief executive officer of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship, told the Times, "It's swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. There's no need to get rid of literally hundreds of thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an isolated book or piece of literature that presents extremism."

Labels: george bush

that video is pretty cool, but trying to watch it on the Al-Jazeera site is annoying... The direct YouTube links work tho...

part 1

part 2

Labels: george bush

Bush’s Fake Sheik Whacked:
The Surge and the Al Qaeda Bunny

A special investigative report from inside Iraq
by Greg Palast

Monday, September 17, 2007- Did you see George all choked up? In his surreal TV talk on Thursday, he got all emotional over the killing by Al Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni alliance with the US against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq.

Bush shook Abu Risha's hand two weeks ago for the cameras. Bush can shake his hand again, but not the rest of him: Abu Risha was blown away just hours before Bush was to go on the air to praise his new friend.

Here's what you need to know that NPR won't tell you.

1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik.
2. He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda.
3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik - and a murderous deceit.

How do I know this? You can see the film - of "Sheik" Abu Risha, of the guys who likely whacked him and of their other victims.

Just in case you think I've lost my mind and put my butt in insane danger to get this footage, don't worry. I was safe and dry in Budapest. It was my brilliant new cameraman, Rick Rowley, who went to Iraq to get the story on his own.

Rick's "the future of TV news," says BBC. He's also completely out of control. Despite our pleas, Rick and his partner Dave Enders went to Anbar and filmed where no cameraman had dared tread.

Why was "sheik" Abu Risha so important? As the New York Times put it this morning, "Abu Risha had become a charismatic symbol of the security gains in Sunni areas that have become a cornerstone of American plans to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq though much of next year."

In other words, Abu Risha was the PR hook used to sell the "success" of the surge.

The sheik wasn't a sheik. He was a fake. While proclaiming to Rick that he was "the leader of all the Iraqi tribes," Abu lead no one. But for a reported sum in the millions in cash for so-called, "reconstruction contracts," Abu Risha was willing to say he was Napoleon and Julius Caesar and do the hand-shakie thing with Bush on camera.

Notably, Rowley and his camera caught up with Abu Risha on his way to a "business trip" to Dubai, money laundering capital of the Middle East.

There are some real sheiks in Anbar, like Ali Hathem of the dominant Dulaimi tribe, who told Rick Abu Risha was a con man. Where was his tribe, this tribal leader? "The Americans like to create characters like Disney cartoon heros." Then Ali Hathem added, "Abu Risha is no longer welcome" in Anbar.

"Not welcome" from a sheik in Anbar is roughly the same as a kiss on both cheeks from the capo di capi. Within days, when Abu Risha returned from Dubai to Dulaimi turf in Ramadi, Bush's hand-sheik was whacked.

On Thursday, Bush said Abu Risha was killed, "fighting Al Qaeda" - and the White House issued a statement that the sheik was "killed by al Qaeda."

Bullshit.

There ain't no Easter Bunny and "Al Qaeda" ain't in Iraq, Mr. Bush. It was very cute, on the week of the September 11 memorials, to tie the death of your Anbar toy-boy to bin Laden's Saudi hijackers. But it's a lie. Yes, there is a group of berserkers who call themselves "Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia." But they have as much to do with the real Qaeda of bin Laden as a Rolling Stones "tribute" band has to do with Mick Jagger.

Who got Abu Risha? Nothing - NOTHING - moves in Ramadi without the approval of the REAL tribal sheiks. They were none-too-happy, as Hathem noted, about the millions the US handed to Risha. The sheiks either ordered the hit - or simply gave the bomber free passage to do the deed.

So who are these guys, the sheiks who lead the Sunni tribes of Anbar - the potentates of the Tamimi, Fallaji, Obeidi, Zobal and Jumaili tribes? Think of them as the Sopranos of Arabia. They are also members of the so-called "Awakening Council" - getting their slice of the millions handed out - which they had no interest in sharing with Risha.

But creepy and deadly or not, these capi of the desert were effective in eliminating "Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia." Indeed, as US military so proudly pointed out to Rick, the moment the sheiks declared their opposition to Al Qaeda - i.e. got the payments from the US taxpayers - Al Qaeda instantly diappeared.

This miraculous military change, where the enemy just evaporates, has one explanation: the sheiks ARE al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Just like the Sopranos extract "protection" payments from New Jersey businesses, the mobsters of Anbar joined our side when we laid down the loot.

What's wrong with that? After all, I'd rather send a check than send our kids from Columbus to fight them.

But there's something deeply, horribly wrong with dealing with these killers. They still kill. With new US protection, weapons and cash, they have turned on the Shia of Anbar. Fifteen thousand Shia families from a single district were forced at gunpoint to leave Anbar. Those moving too slowly were shot. Kids and moms too.

Do the Americans know about the ethnic cleansing of Anbar by our erstwhile "allies"? Rick's film shows US commanders placing their headquarters in the homes abandoned by terrorized Shia.

Rick's craziest move was to go and find these Shia refugees from Anbar. They were dumped, over a hundred thousand of them, in a cinder block slum with no running water in Baghdad. They are under the "protection" of the Mahdi Army, another group of cutthroats. But at least these are Shia cutthroats.

So the great "success" of the surge is our arming and providing cover for ethnic cleansing in Anbar. Nice, Mr. Bush. And with the US press "embedded," we won't get the real story. Even Democrats are buying into the Anbar "awakening" fairy tale.

An Iraqi government official frets that giving guns and cover to the Anbar gang is like adopting a baby crocodile. "A crocodile is not a pet," he told Rick. It will soon grow to devour you. But what could the puppet do but complain about his strings?

This Iraqi got it right: the surge is a crock.

Labels: george bush

http://www.madeleinelengle.com/
A Wrinkle in Time was so totally my favorite book for a long long time.  I think that it beat out The Hardy Boys as being the best books ever... and I think it lost its crown to The Hobbit.  And then I thought War of the Worlds would be my favorite, but it wasn't b/c I went back to Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings became the best books ever.  How do I remember that and so very few other things?

Regardless.  I still wish I could tesser.

Labels: Books

Don't much feel like commentating at the moment, but Raven and Judith sent me some pretty cool pictures... Thanks! :)
Ok... One comment... wtf is going on here. Also, I'm definitely not lost in the mood or something and playing with my eyes closed. Sometimes I have to blink. It happens.

Labels: Allison, Eston, filboyd studge, Judith, Raven, Sarah, Scott