My dad's getting ready to join my mom down in Indianapolis and stay in a hotel for a couple of days. With this weather and cabin fever I'm ready to go somewhere or I'll go crazy. Fortunately, I can go online and scout for luxury vacations and various travel deals that'll help my finances.

Frank Cho came up with an idea to raise money to help Steve Gerber with his heath problems as a revival of the Friends of Ol' Gerber (or FOOG) fundraising efforts when he was suing Marvel over ownership of Howard the Duck. Although he passed away, it was decided to proceed with the fundraising efforts to help others. Although others reported this, Newsarama has the first good image you can see of Cho's print of Howard and Beverly, so they get the link. Nyah!

Many people seem to think that because a company offers a service that helps you or look out for you that they must care about you as a customer. But usually it's because that they can make money or that they were mandated by an act of law. For instance, my credit union helps me by offering overdraft protection in case I overdraw my checking account by transferring funds from my savings. But it's after all the spin on how they value me and want to protect me that they mention that it's a $3 charge each time they do it, and it's only 5 times they can do that before the next level of protection and charges kick in. And one of the big credit agencies Experian is trying to quash the efforts of another company to look out for their customers. Life Lock offers identity theft protection for a charge by offering additional protection, and taking steps to ensure their customers' information isn't traded or sold by the credit reporting agencies, and getting placed on mailing lists, etc. I've read that identity theft is very difficult to fight and clear off the charges, and the companies know they can make lots of money by keeping it that way, and aren't happy with anyone trying to stop their gravy train.

It all started when Geoffrey D. Wessel wanted to know who I was. I thought I had an LJ account, so I tried tried logging in. Oddly enough, for all the times I have to rack my brain at different sites, I actually got it on the first try. And saw I too could have a LiveJournal. So with a new toy to play with, I thought I'd give it a shot. I still have this blog, but once in a while you want to shake things up.

It seems to me that like President's Day or those other holidays where the only thing of note is that some government employees have the day off, Leap Day is really nothing of note for me. I was blogging back in 2004, so I went through the archives to see what I wrote that day. I didn't. It was on a Sunday, so more than likely I was resting up and dreading the work week ahead. And a few weeks back I caught the end of Wheel of Fortune where Pat Sajak was vamping for time, he mentioned that there wasn't a Leap Day in 2000. I forgot about that, so don't even ask what I was doing then.
Anyway, Leap Day. I'll just end it with wishing Lisa and Mark Gibson a happy anniversary, and Superman a happy birthday.

Note: The following post is sponsored.
Have you noticed that there are many times in your life when you held yourself back, almost like in fear, and regretted it afterwards? Anything from asking that attractive person out to going for that promotion to most anything to advance yourself? You would think that your ego would be the thing that pushes you forward, but ironically it's the thing that could be holding you back to your eternal regret. But there's a method out there that could help you with your problems and help you reach your potential.
The Sedona Method is a simple, powerful, easy-to-learn and duplicate technique that shows you how to uncover those things in your mind that hold you back and allow to overcome them to achieve the things you want out of life. By learning about the subconscious programming that keeps you down and frustrated, you can learn about presence awareness to override your subconscious feelings of flight to go after what you want. And if you go to their website they offer a free CD and DVD to teach you more about this. So don't just sit there brooding over all the missed opportunities in your life, seize the chance to do something about it today.

Today was payday, so we went out to get restocked on supplies, and other things. We got Kathy's eye coverage information and made an appointment at Wal-mart to have her eyes checked (it was the place she selected that was in her network) and she said there was a noticeable improvement when they were examined. We were given an ETA of the 6th for her new glasses, it'd be great if they come in then. She won't have to use a magnifying glass to read. And we did save some money on the new glasses. I got the shopping done while she was being examined.
Then we went and saw Be Kind Rewind, and we both enjoyed it. I got one of the admissions free since I got a ticket through My Coke Rewards, and had a coupon I printed when the AMC theatre opened near us for free small drink and popcorn, and Kathy's water was $3, so it was $10.50 altogether. Okay, back to the movie. You saw the trailer (but in case you didn't, here you go):

Anyway, you know the premise, the tapes are erased and they film their own versions of the videos that are only 20 minutes, and are called the "sweded" versions. In fact, here's the sweded version of the trailer:

But if you're expecting a film about the wacky hijinks remaking movies, you might be a little disappointment. The movie's more about a town that's dying and the people that are struggling to survive in it. Their community pride is long gone. I don't want to say more, but there is some heart in this movie that isn't going to make you leave the theatre ready to change the world, but feeling a little better about things.
After the movie, I went ahead and pulled the trigger and got the HD DVD add on to a video game system I don't even own. I'm hoping between starting up some eBay sales soon and the tax refund that we should have it around the end of next month.

You know how in the collectible card business they offer special things like autographed cards, or cards with a piece of clothing worn by someone famous or something like that? And when you buy a box of cards you sort through them and might find an autograph that wasn't high on your list of ones you were wanting? Wouldn't you like to have something of yours that could be autographed by someone? One of the card companies, Upper Deck, has come up with something that I think is very interesting. In their sports collectibles autograph program, you send them a picture of the item you want signed, like a basketball or jersey, and they will let you know the price and send a link to the checkout page where you can pay for the autograph. Then you send in the item and they'll send it back autographed by the sports star. So instead of scrambling around for an autograph that on something that you wouldn't want autographed if you had your way, you can pick what you want autographed and send it in through sports collectibles to get your dream piece that'll be an excellent addition to your collection.

I've followed along with the news of the death of HD DVD, and saw Blu Ray emerge triumphant. From what I've read and seen, Blu Ray looked like the better format of the two. But...
When I was at Best Buy the other day, I saw that the X Box 360 HD DVD add-on was only $50 now, and it comes with King Kong. Also, tomorrow's the last day for the rebate to get 5 free HD DVD movies if you buy a player, including the X Box 360 attachment. I don't have the X Box 360 yet, but hope to get one in a month or two. Plus, the movies that are out for HD DVD should be going down in price, as the stores and the customers will be unloading them. I dunno, it sounds like a really good deal. I'm not sure when I'll be making the leap to HDTV, but this might be a good interim format.

Past couple of days I've been feeling that I should say something else about the Oscars, since I made some predictions...I didn't do as well as last year on the Outguess Ebert contest and didn't win anything then, so I doubt I'll win anything this year, especially being wrong in 2 major categories. As to the show itself, it strikes me as interesting that each year the stories say that that year's host was the worst, the ratings are low, no one sees the films nominated... I dunno, I thought Juno at least was close to mainstream, and it seems that Oscar has taken a more highbrow route since 1980 or so... What are they going to do, nominate Meet The Spartans for all the major categories? Given the revolving door of what's number one at the box office each week, I suspect there's a lot of people that are hungry for something really good and enjoyable at the movies. I usually wait for something to hit DVD, as before Juno the last film we saw was Cloverfield, but a lot of it was because I've talked about it before here, and I expected there were some curious as to what I thought. Oh, that reminds me, when we were watching New Frontier last night, Kathy asked me who Hourman was, and I told her, and even mentioned there was a blog named after the pill he took for his powers.
I liked that they brought back out one of the winners that the orchestra played off before she spoke, and watched the Oscars all the way through, but I did follow along with Peter David's live blogging of the event after the first hour or so. Hey, we were in the wasteland between supporting performer nominations.

This is the time of year where I've got the cabin fever and itching to travel somewhere. I've been entering contests where trips are the prize, but I haven't won anything yet. If I wanted to try my luck a different way, I'd check out these cheap hotel Las Vegas and find a good deal. some dry desert weather sounds really good after dealing with all this miserable midwest cold and wet weather.

Next to Vancouver, a lot of TV shows and movies have been filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. Remember Dawson's Creek? That was filmed there. Even if you're not in "the business" you can see that Wilmington is a beautiful part of the country to live in. Wilmington NC real estate can help you find a place either as a new home or as an investment.

After months of counting down the days, it finally arrived: Justice League New Frontier came out on DVD today. I had read reports that it wasn't a literal adaptation, mainly due to the 75 minute running time. So I was forewarned. I set out today to the nearest Best Buy, as the 2 disc set is packed with a Green Lantern figure. In that regard I ran into disappointment. First, the first BB I went to had a paper posted at the door saying they didn't have it. Second, when I went to another BB a few miles away they had it, but it was a small figurine. Hardly what comes to mind when one says "DC Direct Green Lantern figure" But it has a spot in front of my Wonder Woman New Frontier figure.
We watched the first disc this evening, which was the feature itself, a preview of Batman Gotham Knight (an Animatrix-esque take on the character slated to come out before The Dark Knight) and the featurette about the history of the Justice League. I usually don't watch films with the commentary tracks, but hope to screen the one with Darwyn Cooke's commentary, and the features of the second disc.

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What did one oyster say to the other? Nothing, he clammed up.
Now that the ice has been broken (I know, what ice? But they said create an oyster joke and it reminded me of The Far Side cartoon where Lincoln's looking over the portion of his speech that says "That was a duck!" (wait for laughter) "Four score and seven years ago...") let me tell you about this site that gives you all sorts of information about Gulf oysters and other types of oysters. They provide nutritional information and other facts. For instance, while not a serious threat to healthy individuals, consumption of raw or undercooked oysters by at-risk individuals may cause serious illness or even death from Vibrio vulnificus bacteria. What should you know and what steps should you take? All this and more is at the Be Oyster Aware site.

Isn't it interesting that the CBS affiliate in Alabama lost the network feed when 60 Minutes was showing a story about how the W Repugnicans railroaded former Alabama governor Don Siegelman? And that CBS is calling BS in response to their claim the mixup was at the network level? And that the station is owned by the Bass brothers, "Bush fundraisers at the "Pioneer" level – raising over $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney campaigns in both 2000 and 2004. Lee Bass is perhaps the best known member of the Bass family for his role in George W. Bush’s failed energy venture called Spectrum 7 and later for his bailing out of Harken Energy."
Hey, FCC, if you get a moment after investigating all the complaints by "family" organizations about bare butts on TV, how about checking into this?
Hey, despite all our cynicism, did you know you can file a complaint with the FCC? They say that they're a government organization created to serve the public trust. I just did. Complaint #08-C00004430 was just filed over the internet, using form 2000E.
Thanks to Paul Harris for bringing this to my attention.

Joe Loves Crappy Movies just did a crossover strip about the film Vantage Point, which to paraphrase Crow T Robot from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 "is just like Rashomon...only not as good." But he linked to the strips he featured: My Stupid Life, Scene Language and Rob And Elliot. What are the odds that 3 web strips you hear about, all 3 look good? I just added them to the strip roll on the right, and look forward to perusing their archives.

The other day, my brother in law and the couple he's staying with came by for a visit. We had a good time talking and spending time together (although Kathy and I felt bad the house was a mess, but we've been working on it since) When the conversation made it's inevitable turn to politics, one of them said they didn't like Obama for not being patriotic. I assumed it was due to the flap over his not wearing a flag pin. I explained that I felt he wasn't in lock step with the rote patriotism, that he was more interested in action, not deeds. Well, leave it to Mr. Obama himself to put it better:
“A party that presided over a war in which our troops did not get the body armor they needed, or were sending troops over who were untrained because of poor planning, or are not fulfilling the veterans’ benefits that these troops need when they come home, or are undermining our Constitution with warrantless wiretaps that are unnecessary?
“That is a debate I am very happy to have. We’ll see what the American people think is the true definition of patriotism.”
Hopefully this time people will listen and process actual information, and not parrot the feel-good buzzwords they're given.
Once again, thanks to Geoffrey D. Wessel for the info. Best of luck on the comics work, G.

While Dave Sim's second secret project has been known to be Glamourpuss for some time, it's only now that the information on what he calls "secret project #1" has come out. It's called Judenhass and the site has a preview and information as to why he's doing this project. Although I'm sure the comics websites have this news up, I found out from Geoffrey D. Wessel, so he gets the props and thanks.

Note: The following post is sponsored.
If you're a company looking for labels to made for your company such as wineries and food manufacturers, why not try They can manufacture a Wine Label for you. But they're designed more for companies than just one-time things like wine labels for a wedding, they can fill orders for companies.