Didn't get any trick or treaters. To be fair, I didn't have my porch light on that much, but there people out and about while it was daylight. I wonder if it's like Peter David said where it isn't like it used to be, and people only go to the houses of people they know. In any case, I didn't give out any of the batches of free comics I put together this year. I may just save it for next year and if it doesn't go, then forget it.

When is a Flake not a flake? When he's a politician.
And another tale of people held prisoner on a plane for hours. Is it really going to take someone's death to get this to stop? And the top to bottom crappy service and getting nickle and dimed to death and the airlines are wondering why business is bad? Can we add this to the list of things to fix after the health care bill is passed? And for those out there who cry and moan at government sticking their nose in (said lamentations the results of being lap dogs for the rich 1% hoping that they'll get to sit at the grown ups' table one day) it's obvious it isn't going to be fixed by business. Or even consider it until it looks like government intervention is looming.

You don't think that there's any rare and valuable comics still out there to be found? Think again. I'll bet the heir to that house is glad that mom didn't throw away the comics.

You know that phrase "been there, done that, got the t-shirt"? It's so easy nowadays for anyone to come out with a t-shirt. But getting people to find them and buy them, that's the trick. There's so many shirts out there that there are a lot of great designs that get lost in the shuffle. And you get so overwhelmed that it's easy to give up and just settle. But you don't have to do that.
There are some wild and fresh designs for shirts out there that you should take a look at. One advantage to all the shirts out there is that it's easy to find one to express your individual style that you're not going to find at the mall or big store. There are a lot of shirts to choose from in Grimm Apparel and Thread Impressions, or Lady Austere if you want to show a feminine side with an edge.

It's Friday, which means a new installment of Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed. Did Brazil heavily edit Secret Wars when they reprinted it? And there's a new Movie Answer Man column. One of the topics is a possible transcription of Amelia Earhart's last transmission.
It looks like Grand Theft Auto IV is getting some anime.
Paul Harris raves about Paul Shaffer's new book, particularly in audio form. Might add that to my Christmas list.
Remember me telling you about how Wal-Mart and Amazon are in a price war with $9 hardcover bestsellers? I'm too lazy to look up my original post, but it's still going on, and perusing their website's bestsellers would bear that out. It includes upcoming books such as the new Stephen King one. Well, not only is Target getting in on the act, they're all rationing sales since independent booksellers can get them cheaper than through their usual distributors.
I don't know if you heard of the car crash that killed a family of four because the gas pedal got stuck and they were travelling at 100+ MPH, but here's a link to the report with grisly (not graphic) photos. I'm only mentioning this to point out if you find yourself in a situation like this, like the article says put the car in neutral and get yourself safely to the side of the road to shut off the engine.
And don't forget to turn all your clocks back an hour tomorrow night.

Whether you're looking to hire an employee, allow a tenant to rent one of your properties, or any other venture that involves trusting another employee, you want to make sure that the person you consider is trustworthy. If you're hiring them for a job, there are a lot of expenses involved with hiring that person beyond paying their wages. You want to make sure they're worth the investment. And if you're considering a tenant for one of your properties, you want to be secure in the fact that they will pay the rent and be a good tenant. The wrong selection could result in lost income not only from non-payment of rent, but the time spent in legal battles and what could happen to your property before they move out.
So to protect yourself and help ensure you're selecting the right people you should consider using this employmee screening software that can perform background checks and assist you in making the right selections. Since making the wrong ones can be so costly to you on so many levels, it's good to have something that can help you navigate that minefield.

With everything that's been going on and the holiday season getting ready to start (although the stores have been trying to jump-start it already) maybe I need a relaxing hobby. I do have other hobbies but they've been anything but relaxing. That was one reason I got out of Heroclix. With the rules that made it seem like you're fighting with one hand tied behind your back and they're sitting on your other arm (not to mention the collecting aspect of it) it ended up not being fun by any stretch of the imagination.
But what's needed is a hobby that's more relaxing, but has some element of interest in it. Something like trout fishing. It is more that just getting a pole, a line, a hook and some bait; but it's certainly not intense unless you make it that way for yourself. There is enough going on to keep you interested, but the main part of it is getting away from it all to a peaceful fishing hole, casting your line, and taking in the scenery and atmosphere while you're waiting for the fish to bite. Tranquil in a zen sort of way. Certainly a hobby worth looking into that can complement your hectic lifestyle.

I got my comic shipment this week, and there were a couple of problems. First, the 1000 Comics You Must Read book didn't ship this week. I'm aware that some books don't all ship the same week, so I know it'll come at some point. But the Spider-man Comic Strip reprint book I wrote about looking forward to the other day was opened and looked at, and it was a disappointment. Not only are the strips all black and white, they're printed sideways to fit the page. It's one thing when it's comic strips reprinted in a comic book where there's very limited options, but there are more options for book as far as size. Okay, it's better than the paperback reprints years ago where they reformatted the panels to fit, but at least it was in color. There was no excuse for skimping like this, especially for a $40 book. Okay, it was half that thanks to it being on the specials offered by DCBS. But in this day and age of excellent packaging in comic strip reprints there is no excuse for this. The book came shrinkwrapped, which is possibly due to hiding these shortcomings. Avoid this book.

No, don't worry, The Craig Ferguson Show isn't being cancelled. Like Mike and Mark, I consider myself a fan of the show, but more casual, catching it from time to time if I'm up and notice it's about the time it comes on. I caught the first part of last night's show where he talked about how his blackout on Monday's show made CNN. And thanks to Mark Evanier, I have a clip:


And even ComicMix just got into the act, with some comic book related clips from the show.

Many people are looking into going into business for themselves. But the big question is what kind of business to start. Given the amount of money needed to start a business, not to mention the time and work involved, make it a major gamble. And unlike other forms of gambling, you can do some research and analysis to determine what kind of business to start.
One thing that can help you is this program to learn about starting a solar power business. Energy costs take up a big part of peoples' budgets, and it deals with a resource that will eventually run out. But it's more the rising costs that are getting people thinking of other methods of energy. You can learn about solar power and how it can translate into a potentially profitable venture for you.
With a lot of effort and study on your part and some luck you can have a solar power business that have an impact on more than your bottom line. You could be the vanguard of a new venture arising from the current chaos.

It's that time of year, so here's one of many Cassandra Peterson, AKA Elvira interviews that's sure to come out. Interesting overview of her career. I knew New World went bankrupt, but not before releasing Elvira Mistress of the Dark. It even played at the multiplex near me when it came out, and I live out in the middle of nowhere.
Particularly of interest to this audience is this quote from the interview:

"The comic-book industry, in general, is kind of in trouble. It’s going the way the music industry is. I had a meeting with Stan Lee about a year ago to talk about doing another comic book—he’s always been a big fan of Elvira—and he said—and this is coming from Mr. Comic Book himself—'Get out of comic books! Forget it! It’s over! It’s done! All people want to do is get on the Internet!'"

I promised I'd write something about this show a few weeks back, and I was surprised to find out that I hadn't wrote anything about it yet. I had heard about this web series a few weeks back but it was just mentioning about it. I didn't run into any reviews or anyone raving about it. It was like certain websites online like Google, eBay, and Amazon, where people refer to it and assume everyone knows what it is. And part of the delay is the pressure building up in me to write a good post about this, and I didn't want to mess it up.
Maybe I'm just really out of the loop, but in case there's somebody out there reading this that hadn't heard of it, there's a funny web series called The Guild that I enjoy watching. It stars Felicia Day of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" fame as part on an online role playing game guild that isn't World Of Warcraft, but not named to allow everyone to identify with more. I only play online via XBox Live which is nowhere near the fantasy genre, but Kathy and I really enjoy it. Like Knights Of The Dinner Table, I don't play the games based in the series, but enjoy the characters and situations. It's in it's 3rd season, which was great for catching up on it, but maddening waiting for each episode which is only a few minutes long to watch online or download via XBox Live. If you haven't seen it yet, try the first episode and see if you like it.

The Comics Journal's Journalista! is one of the comics newssites I check each day while I'm out and about online. It's going on hiatus until Monday because of a couple of announcements they made on the site today. First, they plan to expand the website tcj.com. The second is that after issue 300 scheduled for release at the end of next month The Comics Journal is cutting back to twice a year publication, with the print version and the web site complement each other. Another sign of the changing times.

I'm always on the lookout for new books to read. What few ads there are for books are mainly puffery and "here's the newest one" from authors that you'd have to live under a rock to not know they've got a new book out. And if you like the Twilight book series, there's only so many times you can read those books before you're hungry for something new. Well, this Tuesday November 3rd Sherilyn Kenyon is coming out with the second book from The League series called Born of Fire. You can read an excerpt from it, check out the 'Born Of Fire' trailer, or...what the heck, I'm feeling generous, here:

And you enter the Born Of Fire sweepstakes where you can win a copy of the book.