Meanwhile.... Pt. 2

[hondobrode]

I had no idea deer concerned themselves with such things. I'm having a hard time seeing Bambi in a butcher's apron, personally.

You'd be surprised.

[Rob Allen]

Here are a couple of things that came across my screen today. I considered reviving the old "Rob's Fun Links" thread but decided to post them here.

First, Kyle Baker has put all of his creator-owned properties online for all to read, free - including most notably, Why I Hate Saturn:

http://www.qualityjollity.com/Properties.html

And here's an interview with artist Tim Truman, focusing on his work with the Grateful Dead:

http://www.dead.net/features/all-fam...012313/truman3

[zryson]

Sat on the floor sorting through boxes looking for more items to donate to charity. I enjoy sitting on the floor. I find it comfortable and a throwback to my childhood days where I would peruse the used bookstores and sit on the floor surrounded by vintage superhero comics. I sometimes think about those stores and how much the world has changed since those days.

[Roquefort Raider]

Speaking of the old days...

I just read a newspaper article about people who tried to live without their smartphone for a weekend. As you'd expect, most of them said something to the effect that they felt a bit naked. One of them, though, really made me feel my age: deprived of his GPS to reach a friend's country house, he... "did what we used to do in the good old days: before leaving, look at Google Map".

Ye gods! I feel like Steve Rogers coming out of his iceberg!!!

[zryson]

Hi Roquefort Raider a lot of people these days do feel strangely at odds with themselves and the wider world when they aren't plugged into their phones. It’s not uncommon to be at a mall and see people sitting having lunch with somebody or walking with somebody and be totally consumed with checking their smart phones for new messages.

[Roquefort Raider]

Hi Roquefort Raider a lot of people these days do feel strangely at odds with themselves and the wider world when they aren't plugged into their phones. It’s not uncommon to be at a mall and see people sitting having lunch with somebody or walking with somebody and be totally consumed with checking their smart phones for new messages.

True, Zryson; it's strange that these devices are often touted as promoting connection between folks even despite interfering with actual social interaction. (Well, the device itself is obviously not at fault; but many people really get addicted to their online world, apps and assorted widgets).

I loved the scene in the movie "Avengers" when a pilot on the Helicarrier can't manage to find the cardinal points without a GPS, and Samuel Jackson asks him if the sun is still rising. I could just imagine that kind of thing happening in the real world (apart from the flying aircraft carrier, obviously).

[hondobrode]

Here are a couple of things that came across my screen today. I considered reviving the old "Rob's Fun Links" thread but decided to post them here.

First, Kyle Baker has put all of his creator-owned properties online for all to read, free - including most notably, Why I Hate Saturn:

http://www.qualityjollity.com/Properties.html

And here's an interview with artist Tim Truman, focusing on his work with the Grateful Dead:

http://www.dead.net/features/all-fam...012313/truman3

Thanks for the post and heads up Rob.

Baker just gets better and better and better. He's truly one of the great cartoonists of our generation.

[zryson]

Hi Roquefort Raider really interesting post you made and if I might add, I want to address some comments of my own. I think for many people the rise of the smartphones and technology does become an obsession, or self-obsession. I also think for some people it’s about a sense of validation by showing how popular they are. I've seen that with personal friends who I will be talking face to face with but they are constantly checking their emails and then triumphantly showing me how many messages they have received that day. Of course there are also many location based websites that feed into peoples need for self obsession and you see them out at restaurants or clubs or just malls constantly standing around and thumbing through their smartphones and sorting through messages from strangers who know they are in the same vicinity and they become preoccupied with it at the risk of the real people with them. The irony of course is that technology seems to stress and depress so many people as it consumes their lives and they lose the ability to really communicate with those around them.

[dan bailey]

Today was pay day (good thing, too, since somehow I'd miscalculated my balance after last pay day & found myself with a total balance of less than $10 as of yesterday, savings included), & when I went to check my account online just now I saw that the balance is being reported as $403,766.05, even though my paycheck is the normal amount (i.e. more like 2.5 percent of that amount).

Obviously, it's some sort of mistake ...

... but even so I obviously should run out & pay off my mortgage. And at least one friend's mortgage. And my next-door neighbor's mortgage.

And then I should hit the comics sites.

[DubipR]

Tomorrow I'm donating close to 600 comic books to the local children's hospital. Last month I gave out 400 or so to my friend who works with MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) for her students who are excelling in the sciences.

[zryson]

Something similar happened to a female friend of mine years ago. We were out shopping and she checked her bank account and discovered more money was in her account than she knew she had. I told her it was obviously a mistake and the bank would rectify it. Only she had other ideas and withdrew the money so she could spend it. I told her she was an idiot and that the money wasnt hers. She figured as long as it was in her account it was. I disagreed. Anyway, to make a long story short she had to repay the money and then she complained about having to do so!

[zryson]

Hi DubipR I think its really great of you to donate comics to a childrens hospital. Too often people are only concerned with their own needs, so for you to take the time to give to kids, especially children who are sick and holed up in hospital that is a really wonderful gesture on your part.

[zryson]

I think my favorite stores to visit are the combination stores; so they might have books, comics, magazines and other assorted periodicals along with records, cassettes, etc. I remember going to one store. From the outside it didn't look like much but inside it was something else. There were ladders and stairs as it was spread over several floors. The comic books or back issue section as it was called were downstairs. Some were organized into category. Others were on racks and tens of thousands of others were in boxes still waiting to be unpacked. That's what I remember most about the store. The boxes. They were everywhere. I remember passing by some of them and having to inch very carefully along the narrow corridors least I knock one of them and it starts a domino effect. The first time I went there I was overwhelmed. It was somewhat dizzying to see so much in one store. I liked looking through the records as well. Those were fun. 12-inch singles, 7-inch, picture discs and foreign printings around the world dominated the crates they were stored in. Some were ex-DJ stock too.

[zryson]

Visited some stores today and I guess the thing that I noticed was how many people are getting rid of their comic collections. The stores are overflowing with choice, and not for a lot of money either (which sort of renders the whole notion of finding bargains a rarity these days). There were Transformers magazines, Conan, Bronze and Silver Age Action Comics, Bronze Age Batman and Detective, The Flash, Green Lantern, etc. Just tons of stuff. I also saw quite a few softcover and HC stuff dating from the 70s through to present day (including New 52).

[Jezebel Bond]

Looks like I'll be winning an iPad 4 in a few days. Had a bet with a colleague that SKYFALL would beat THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in worldwide receipts and having just opened in China, it is only 2.5m away from beating Batman and becoming the 7th biggest film of all time.

She's a lawyer and can afford it, and besides, about time I won a wager with her having lost the last one.