Last week when I went to the comic shop I picked up the trade paperback collection of Sleeper Season One.
I’ve read it before (along with Season Two), but I never actually owned it, and it had been a while since I’d read it, so I was eagerly anticipating rereading it.
Sleeper is a comic that is crafted from 100% awesomeness.
Even though I already know how it ends, I find myself impatiently waiting for the September release of the Season Two trade, because I just need another Sleeper fix.
(I posted a Facebook status stating that I can’t believe I have to wait until September for it. My friend Gretchen responded that waiting and wanting are good for you, as they build character. My response? Screw character; I want it now. Besides, I’ve spent most of my life waiting and wanting; at this point I’ve got character spilling out of my ears, and having it hasn’t done me a bit of good.)
In any case, after finishing Season One, I had to go back to reading Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 3.
Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Sure, the old Legion stories are entertaining in their way, but contrasted to the excellence of Sleeper...well, it’s a major letdown and a total awesomeness downgrade.
On the topic of awesomeness, though, They Live is currently airing on HDNet Movies and recording on my DVR, so I think I’ll go watch that.
Not much else to write about anyway...
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Tiller-less
Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot on the way home to pick up some more of that lawn patch repair stuff to use in the front yard, as the test patches in the backyard have actually been yielding new grass.
I also wanted to pick up some kind of tiller thing for the immediate purpose of breaking up the soil in the areas in which I need to use the patch repair stuff, but also for the future date on which I decide to do something different with the flowerbeds, as I'm not really all that thrilled about what was left behind by the previous owner in the way of flowers.
I found the perfect one; a Black & Decker model that uses the same battery system as all of the rest of my stuff.
Naturally they didn't actually have any in stock, and weren't selling the display model.
I'd intended to mow the lawn - the front and side, anyway - when I got home, but by the time I did I no longer had the energy, so I put it off until today.
I also did some hedge trimiing, and then did the patch repair thing on one of the bigger sections of dead grass, using a shovel and a rake to break up the soil, since I'm still tiller-less.
And that's been pretty much all the excitement in my life.
A Conversation at Work:
My boss: That will free you up from some "grunt work."
Me: That's good, because I certainly have plenty of that.
My boss: We're definitely going to be moving away from that kind of thing. I've got some good projects lined up for you.
Me: ...great.
Why I Heart Slacktivist Continued:
In his most recent post about the Delaware legislature passing legislature that would add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws, Fred "Slacktivist" Clark demonstrates yet again why I Heart Slacktivist:
Those bills never passed. "Discrimination against gays still legal in Del.," read the headline on the paper's Web site, year after year after year.
That headline was celebrated, each time, by Christian conservative groups who were always ferociously opposed to the idea that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons should enjoy the same legal protections as everyone else in the state. Those groups liked to quote Leviticus to support the idea that homosexuality was an "abomination" to God. The idea, I guess, was that homosexuals were sinners and thus real, true Christians were therefore obliged to ensure that it remained perfectly legal to deny them access to housing or employment.
It's tempting to respond in kind, to say, I'll see your Leviticus and raise you a Deuteronomy:
Do not have two differing weights in your bag -- one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house -- one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures ... For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
In other words, no fair not being fair. You can't have one price for one group of people and a different price for a different group. You can't have one housing market or one job market for one group of people and exclude other people from that market -- that's differing weights and measures, something the Lord your God detests. Inequality, discrimination, disenfranchisement and the dishonesty of double-dealing and double-standards turn out also to be abominations before the Lord.
And there's nothing in Deuteronomy to suggest a loophole that says it's OK to have differing weights in your bag so long as the short-changing one is for homosexuals. The Bible says, unambiguously, that these Delaware Christians' crusade in defense of legal discrimination is abominable and detestable.
So what we have here is a theological dispute -- a disagreement over the interpretation and meaning of the scripture. I'm confident I can win this argument, but before we get bogged down in the theological details of such a dispute, allow me to point out the most important thing to remember about all such arguments: They don't matter. Not even a little bit. Because none of what any of us thinks about the interpretation and meaning of the scripture is in any way relevant to the question before the legislature, a wholly secular body charged only with the wholly secular matters of law and justice.
I also wanted to pick up some kind of tiller thing for the immediate purpose of breaking up the soil in the areas in which I need to use the patch repair stuff, but also for the future date on which I decide to do something different with the flowerbeds, as I'm not really all that thrilled about what was left behind by the previous owner in the way of flowers.
I found the perfect one; a Black & Decker model that uses the same battery system as all of the rest of my stuff.
Naturally they didn't actually have any in stock, and weren't selling the display model.
I'd intended to mow the lawn - the front and side, anyway - when I got home, but by the time I did I no longer had the energy, so I put it off until today.
I also did some hedge trimiing, and then did the patch repair thing on one of the bigger sections of dead grass, using a shovel and a rake to break up the soil, since I'm still tiller-less.
And that's been pretty much all the excitement in my life.
A Conversation at Work:
My boss: That will free you up from some "grunt work."
Me: That's good, because I certainly have plenty of that.
My boss: We're definitely going to be moving away from that kind of thing. I've got some good projects lined up for you.
Me: ...great.
Why I Heart Slacktivist Continued:
In his most recent post about the Delaware legislature passing legislature that would add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws, Fred "Slacktivist" Clark demonstrates yet again why I Heart Slacktivist:
Those bills never passed. "Discrimination against gays still legal in Del.," read the headline on the paper's Web site, year after year after year.
That headline was celebrated, each time, by Christian conservative groups who were always ferociously opposed to the idea that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons should enjoy the same legal protections as everyone else in the state. Those groups liked to quote Leviticus to support the idea that homosexuality was an "abomination" to God. The idea, I guess, was that homosexuals were sinners and thus real, true Christians were therefore obliged to ensure that it remained perfectly legal to deny them access to housing or employment.
It's tempting to respond in kind, to say, I'll see your Leviticus and raise you a Deuteronomy:
Do not have two differing weights in your bag -- one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house -- one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures ... For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
In other words, no fair not being fair. You can't have one price for one group of people and a different price for a different group. You can't have one housing market or one job market for one group of people and exclude other people from that market -- that's differing weights and measures, something the Lord your God detests. Inequality, discrimination, disenfranchisement and the dishonesty of double-dealing and double-standards turn out also to be abominations before the Lord.
And there's nothing in Deuteronomy to suggest a loophole that says it's OK to have differing weights in your bag so long as the short-changing one is for homosexuals. The Bible says, unambiguously, that these Delaware Christians' crusade in defense of legal discrimination is abominable and detestable.
So what we have here is a theological dispute -- a disagreement over the interpretation and meaning of the scripture. I'm confident I can win this argument, but before we get bogged down in the theological details of such a dispute, allow me to point out the most important thing to remember about all such arguments: They don't matter. Not even a little bit. Because none of what any of us thinks about the interpretation and meaning of the scripture is in any way relevant to the question before the legislature, a wholly secular body charged only with the wholly secular matters of law and justice.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Sometimes I Surprise Myself
Friday evening as I was moving some of my newly-purchased tools out to the toolshed my neighbors were in their yard setting up patio furniture and greeted me through the fence.
We talked for a bit and they asked if I had plans for the 4rh. I confessed that I did not, and they told me that they were having a barbecue and that I was welcome to join them.
Surprisingly enough, come Saturday afternoon, I did.
Even more surprising was how sociable I was, having conversations with multiple people, and sticking around for several hours before throwing out the "stuff to do" line and excusing myself.
As is always the case, I was sort of the odd man out, as I fell somewhere in between the primary age groups of the people there.
I didn't do much today beyond going grocery shopping. I didn't exactly fill up the refrigerator, but there's a lot more stuff in it now. The freezer is actually pretty full, though.
Other than that I've been making some half-hearted attempts at drawing, but just haven't been feeling it, and some half-assed attempts at straightening up the house a bit.
And now I've made a quarter-assed attempt at posting a blog entry.
We talked for a bit and they asked if I had plans for the 4rh. I confessed that I did not, and they told me that they were having a barbecue and that I was welcome to join them.
Surprisingly enough, come Saturday afternoon, I did.
Even more surprising was how sociable I was, having conversations with multiple people, and sticking around for several hours before throwing out the "stuff to do" line and excusing myself.
As is always the case, I was sort of the odd man out, as I fell somewhere in between the primary age groups of the people there.
I didn't do much today beyond going grocery shopping. I didn't exactly fill up the refrigerator, but there's a lot more stuff in it now. The freezer is actually pretty full, though.
Other than that I've been making some half-hearted attempts at drawing, but just haven't been feeling it, and some half-assed attempts at straightening up the house a bit.
And now I've made a quarter-assed attempt at posting a blog entry.
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