tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52327568346775335302024-03-04T21:26:37.863-08:00Shut Up and Enjoy the Ozzy!Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-17298211208894241482014-07-01T16:51:00.000-07:002014-07-01T17:07:40.931-07:00<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>SCOTUS VS. POTUS VS. MOTHRA</u></span></strong><br />
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Hey! Good to see you folks again. I've decided to start using this ol' debbil blog page again, for no particular reason beyond my love of my own voice, and the fact that, for some unknown reason, people actually listen to what I have to say. Go figure.<br />
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So the Supreme Court's decision on the Hobby Lobby/Obamacare case has the internet all up in arms, and I have to say, I've never seen the left more wrong about anything (and that's saying something). I'd like to gab about it a bit, but I think first we need to look over what I like to call<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">TROY HICKMAN'S TWO RULES OF HUMAN SEXUALITY!!!</span></strong><br />
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There are only two of them, and a lot of folks will love me for the first, and hate me for the second, but they are inextricably bound, and you can't have one without the other.<br />
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RULE #1: What consenting adult human beings do in the privacy of their own bedroom is NONE OF MY DAMNED BUSINESS.<br />
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Pretty simple, right? I think it's something on which MOST of us can reach (wait for it) Common Grounds. Now...<br />
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RULE #2: Because what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedroom is none of my damned business, you cannot expect me to SUBSIDIZE any of those activities with my tax dollars. That means it's not my business to pay for (A) your birth control, (B) your abortions, (C) the treatment of STDS, and (D) the care and upkeep of any children that are created as a result of what goes on in that bedroom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwhs1KWbKQfCh3CNtupxqFfvEXiOkpZmkTVJIkUb_ZnYORZ73-JBIfVRceUXrlZVBckXJRatO1ANfSCK-cdya84ACzxrp1kQEO44_F8sdBKwhHHznXGHYgYlz3JodU1U3umI1LYEfK_Zj/s1600/tax.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwhs1KWbKQfCh3CNtupxqFfvEXiOkpZmkTVJIkUb_ZnYORZ73-JBIfVRceUXrlZVBckXJRatO1ANfSCK-cdya84ACzxrp1kQEO44_F8sdBKwhHHznXGHYgYlz3JodU1U3umI1LYEfK_Zj/s1600/tax.png" /></a>Got it? This country is based on the concept of NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. If what you do in your bedroom is none of my business and not something you want me to be able to affect through my elected representatives, you therefore cannot confiscate my moolah to pay for it. Simply put, if you want me to keep my big nose out of your bedroom, you have to keep your fingers out of my wallet. But the minute you start making me pay for it, I have a right to a say in what goes on there. Now me, I don't WANT a say in what you do there, so just don't ask me to pony up any dough for it, and we'll get along fine.<br />
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(Usually this is where dissenters raise one of two issues. Some will say "but it's cheaper to pay for the birth control and abortions than to pay for all those kids!" To those folks, read point D above. Others will say "But...but there are all kinds of things in this country we don't get a say about but still have to pay for...like...like the military!" Bzzzzzzt! Oh, sorry, you've failed the lightning round. In fact, you DO have the ability to affect what the military does through your elected representatives, and we can see myriad examples of this. But most of the folks who disagree with me DON'T want people's reproductive choices to be put up to a public vote or be able to be affected by legislation, so it's not the same, is it? You argue all the time that you don't want "women's health choices" to be changed by political forces. OK, so if you put them outside my ability to affect them through my vote or other political action, you also put them outside my responsibility to fund through my hard-earned dollars through taxation. <br />
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So which do you want? Do you want me to pay for your stuff and have a say in your bedroom, or do you want me to keep out of your bedroom while you keep out of my bank account? Because those are your only two choices, as far as I'm concerned.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizm-_jbLd4YMCx2l89wWsJuZi61YslAWQEtzyrf6QMZFJSKdpvxEFn86TZ9iE8P6vjG9bqKObhaO0Oet5_SwsfoyUxyfH2oTv60Pnr4cQ9ncetRZXwbxsA3E8ZqtZCZwkpmXvtp8uo584h/s1600/imagesCAQ9ZH5U.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizm-_jbLd4YMCx2l89wWsJuZi61YslAWQEtzyrf6QMZFJSKdpvxEFn86TZ9iE8P6vjG9bqKObhaO0Oet5_SwsfoyUxyfH2oTv60Pnr4cQ9ncetRZXwbxsA3E8ZqtZCZwkpmXvtp8uo584h/s1600/imagesCAQ9ZH5U.jpg" /></a>And yet I keep seeing all these folks, who apparently eschew reason for talking points, claiming "this is limiting women's access to birth control!" Uh, no. Hobby Lobby pays their employees wages, which can be used for the aforementioned birth control. This will not stop anyone from going to a doctor, a pharmacy, etc. and getting some protection. Not picking up the tab for someone's wants is NOT the same as stopping them from getting it. No one is buying me a new car, which would certainly improve my life more than birth control, but if I can come up with the bread for it, there's no one stopping me from walking into a dealership and driving out with one (well, there isn't CURRENTLY such a force; these days, you never know when a new law will come down the pike).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxH-sb15dlDDVlvIr1Fos9aS1vhA00DxKut-LKsSeU_9zdtsEO__GTjLCa5lKslTY5h2NmBgsyKQtfUMEkzU4I9DBLfTbwm5sInHVVnUyCDde30mUtDayS79WkUDa19crmEyV1rkPWriq/s1600/pill.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxH-sb15dlDDVlvIr1Fos9aS1vhA00DxKut-LKsSeU_9zdtsEO__GTjLCa5lKslTY5h2NmBgsyKQtfUMEkzU4I9DBLfTbwm5sInHVVnUyCDde30mUtDayS79WkUDa19crmEyV1rkPWriq/s1600/pill.png" /></a>According to the Planned Parenthood website, the Pill costs from $15-$50 a month. If you can't afford to spring for that much, why are you taking part in an activity that, even with protection, might cause you to have a child, which is one hell of a lot more expensive?<br />
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But, but Troy, you monster, that's a lot of money to some folks! What do you expect them to do...abstain from a natural human activity?!! Well, yeah, actually, if they can't afford a couple of tenspots a month to pay for their pleasure, maybe they should abstain until they can. Y'know, after my son was unexpectedly conceived and consequently delivered, my then-wife tried to get a tubal, but they told her she'd have to wait a couple of years. So, since we were afraid that other means of birth control might not be 100% effective, and we knew we could never afford a second child (we couldn't even afford the first), we decided not to have intercourse until after the tubal. Yes, gasp, we actually abstained for a couple of years! Oh, my god, what kind of a Superman of self-control must I have been?! The answer is I'm just a normal guy, with no more self-control than anyone else, but I decided to take self-responsibility. Unfortunately, these days that's become a dirty word.<br />
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Look, if this means that much to you, and if you want to help lower-income folks (like myself, btw; thanks to other Obamacare regulations, my employer had to cut my hours by 40%, and I'm at poverty level) with their birth control, abortifacients, etc., that's great. Just take a twenty out of your wallet and fork it over to Planned Parenthood or other such organizations. Or just hand it to someone who looks poor but still wants to engage in sex, and cut out the middleman. If as many people care about this issue as the left is claiming, they can easily raise all the money needed with just a small donation That way, you get what you want and no one has to feel like they've thrown their conscience under the bus But either way, you don't have the right to demand that ANYONE ELSE spring for it without having a say in how its used. That's TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. <br />
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When it comes down to it, this finding from SCOTUS doesn't keep a single person from getting contraceptives and abortifacients. It just keeps business owners who disagree with the use of those things from being forced to pay for it (and truth be told, the Obama administration is already looking for other ways to force companies to do it, probably through unilateral "executive orders").<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88_nirHK220aMTCzyXZnkducTfekBpNL4vZHUjMuQDCfk10k_zDVcwf6phY4NItHyoLjagg3eNECfGFI5XeObE_lU6M0Um6jbIrpzBa8oa4YEdJS95Ocgu_GGsPYkCOMdQXU2z2gHB8jp/s1600/imagesCAKGU71V.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88_nirHK220aMTCzyXZnkducTfekBpNL4vZHUjMuQDCfk10k_zDVcwf6phY4NItHyoLjagg3eNECfGFI5XeObE_lU6M0Um6jbIrpzBa8oa4YEdJS95Ocgu_GGsPYkCOMdQXU2z2gHB8jp/s1600/imagesCAKGU71V.jpg" /></a>It's funny, y'know. In our culture, we already make allowances for people who care about their fellow man, but don't want to betray their heartfelt beliefs. It's called "conscientious objector status." But then, those folks aren't going against The Big O's agenda, nor are they reaching into anyone else's pocket, so we'll let them slide.<br />
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Oh, and this bogus "this is discrimination against women" silliness? Look, nowhere did the Supreme Court or anyone else say "companies can be forced to pay for men's reproductive services but not women's." In fact, unless I'm mistaken, Obamacare regulations don't even require insurance to cover the cost of condoms at all, so who is really being discriminated against here? Is it a war against men? And, y'know, given that condoms can help stop AIDS, and given that there's a higher than average occurrence of AIDS in the gay community, does that mean Obamacare discriminates against gay folks? Is it a war against them? Hmmm...<br />
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Look, the fact that this is even a controversy is terrifying to me, because it's indicative of what we've become, and what we'll continue to become if we don't put our foot down. I'm sorry to say it to folks who have the mantra of "government social programs uber alles," but sometimes the right answer to entitlements is "no."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHy_o-ZRBF49P66uKr0RUgT2qDnqgNBoO8RAqn9rDLkhYl1hD54Ihxe7R8KMl2uqYhkgWRGyk8axd5xmjkBY8UkRExlbB4XV1el2sDwofZWY2pinXFB3oc0A7FDFM68HAOkWeRBuBuxLR/s1600/imagesCAHXR3UY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSHy_o-ZRBF49P66uKr0RUgT2qDnqgNBoO8RAqn9rDLkhYl1hD54Ihxe7R8KMl2uqYhkgWRGyk8axd5xmjkBY8UkRExlbB4XV1el2sDwofZWY2pinXFB3oc0A7FDFM68HAOkWeRBuBuxLR/s1600/imagesCAHXR3UY.jpg" /></a></div>
Interesting, btw, that one of the main problems the Supreme Court had with this is that it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which was signed into law by that noted right-winger...uh...Bill Clinton. And now Hillary is going off on how awful this is. It'll be interesting to see how all that goes. especially when the primaries roll around.<br />
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Anyway, if you disagree with me, feel free to have at it; I'd like to hear why I'm wrong. Bear in mind, though, that you'll want to use logic, reasons, and facts. You probably don't want to just say "I FEEL that it's wrong" or spout sound bytes or call me names, as I'll just mock you mercilessly until you cry...Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-14361599254688944092012-06-08T13:06:00.000-07:002012-06-08T13:06:16.481-07:00A Book Worthy Of Your Almighty Dollar<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltXkpZN6BFzk00DVwi-AIsAvc2ayAaaNHTri3xVzrjewRjpZyATSNl2ZUl28Z3XS0jbyCjDWoTIAAf2NmWxcKER33HZAve76WCsGExdFonKwueP37LAkR5YfAAAaTKqn-ZgriUJcNtou5/s1600/TheAlmighties_1Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltXkpZN6BFzk00DVwi-AIsAvc2ayAaaNHTri3xVzrjewRjpZyATSNl2ZUl28Z3XS0jbyCjDWoTIAAf2NmWxcKER33HZAve76WCsGExdFonKwueP37LAkR5YfAAAaTKqn-ZgriUJcNtou5/s320/TheAlmighties_1Cover.jpg" width="214" /></a>My pals Sam Johnson and Mike Gagnon have come out with a really fascinating new comic called The Almighties, and Sam was kind enough to get a copy into my hands (which is brave of him, as he has no idea where these hands have been). <br /><br />I'm going to pay this comic a compliment that I rarely ever use: I have no idea where it's going. Now, with far too many of today's funnybooks, that's a definite negative. But in this context, I point it out as one of the book's greatest strengths. Unlike a lot of comics, I can't say "well, this is obviously trying to capitalize on the readership of Vertigo titles," or "it's obvious that they're going for a Teen Titans vibe here." The Almighties is very much its own thing, and as someone who takes great pride in trying to make my comics unique, I can appreciate that quality more than most.<br /><br />Ostensibly, this is a superteam comic, but its line-up is a quirky hodge-podge of interesting characters, including the power-armored Maxi-Tron (who finds himself in need of a testicular exam), Ms. F (sort of a Carol Danvers type, but also nothing like her), Nite Fang (a werewolf), Mason (a mercenary), and Stefanos, who apparently runs a kabob shop between having meetings at the White House and fighting crime with a big skewer of meat (and not the way that Ron Jeremy does).<br /><br />Now in and of itself, a peculiar line-up of characters doesn't make a superteam book unique, as we've seen similar things in 1980s indy comics like Southern Knights, Justice Machine, etc., and in some ways this book is reminiscent of such great titles (though the Almighties team is odder than most). But the real difference is in the WAY the comic is written, and that's where my job here becomes difficult, as how do you describe an unknown quality without using a "yardstick" of familiarity with which to compare it? If I had to describe the way this story is told, it would be sort of like if you took a more light-hearted superteam comic (say, the Great Lakes Avengers of the Legion of Substitute Heroes), but then you doused it liberally with the sheer oddness of Bob Burden's work (Flaming Carrot, Mystery Men, etc.). There's a certain controlled lunacy to the comic that could be misconstrued as just wackiness, but there's actually a lot more to it than that. In the salad days of the Comics Journal, I think they might've called this comic "dadaistic," which might be as appropriate, and as incomplete, as any other classification.<br /><br />However you chose to label it, though, I really enjoyed it. There are laughs (my favorite probably being the L'il Jonze character's preoccupation with sex and dips), cool character interaction, and a very fast pace. I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the artwork by Eleonora Kortsarz, Pablo Zambrano, and D.C. White, which is equally hard to describe (again, it would be like if you took the cool indie team books of thirty years ago, but then added an almost underground element...at points it almost looks like the Elementals if Bill Willingham had collaborated with Reid Fleming's David Boswell!), some great coloring by Gulliver Vianei, Jennifer Scott, and the aforementioned Mike Gagnon (oooh, Mr. Multi-tasking!), and first-rate lettering by Kris Johnson.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XeqW8bf17sUqkKQizcbbKZc7RUB5K0_2BoX2H-Rhai7ZIfDDLSDlKp2MmeHYbAJfgrTcjcC5T9CDBkU_EByMzC4eaP7NroRImhSAFmI21AWmjEbgjkKkvQv9WuqUXFBCc7RMgCrQ4Ygy/s1600/TheAlmighties_1SpecialDigitalEdition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XeqW8bf17sUqkKQizcbbKZc7RUB5K0_2BoX2H-Rhai7ZIfDDLSDlKp2MmeHYbAJfgrTcjcC5T9CDBkU_EByMzC4eaP7NroRImhSAFmI21AWmjEbgjkKkvQv9WuqUXFBCc7RMgCrQ4Ygy/s320/TheAlmighties_1SpecialDigitalEdition.jpg" width="177" /></a></div>
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<br />Again, I'll praise the book in a strange way: it's not for everybody. And thank goodness for that, as I really don't want to read a comic that's for everyone. But I do want to read one that's intended for sharp readers with an appreciation of creators doing something outside the box, and that's what we've got here.<br /><br />Check it out. The Almighties #1 is published by Actuality Press, Rated Teen+, and is available at www.indyplanet.com and www.thealmighties.com in $3.99 regular and Variant editions. And the $1.99 Digital Edition is available now at www.graphicly.com and <a href="http://www.wowio.com/">www.wowio.com</a> <br /><br />It's cool to have another comic out there that I actually want to read. I may not give up on this funnybook thing yet...</div>
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<br /></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-42228470143478685302012-06-06T12:44:00.000-07:002012-06-06T12:44:11.134-07:00If Luck Be a Lady Tonight, She Doesn't Think You Drive a Cool Car...Today I saw a link to a FB post that not only got my goat, but bent him over and gave him a Ned Beatty to boot. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=425918580764181&set=a.123290884360287.13113.113544412001601&type=1&theater." target="_blank">Here</a>'s where you can read it in its entirety if you wish. I'm a bit iffy on something called "We Survived Bush, You Can Survive Obama," as it seems to discount all of us who didn't want to have to survive either of them, but what the hey.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6MUhyphenhyphenPVnBHuwYbMsCRF5lLL-sdGfO8HBr2sziqsF26j2xC1NsB8JQUMjgM3QCdi5GF8DBQD6b0KtAITIDEadSBsmyDmT0pFEPljlu73pl0E-sVnm2KgZNDakBWaP0uvMYUmmPt8KzqzS/s1600/unemployed.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6MUhyphenhyphenPVnBHuwYbMsCRF5lLL-sdGfO8HBr2sziqsF26j2xC1NsB8JQUMjgM3QCdi5GF8DBQD6b0KtAITIDEadSBsmyDmT0pFEPljlu73pl0E-sVnm2KgZNDakBWaP0uvMYUmmPt8KzqzS/s320/unemployed.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br />Now, this thingy started off OK, with the author saying that not everyone who is out of work right now is lazy or not looking for work. Okey dokey, I'm with you there. It's a crappy economy right now, despite what the White House might want us to think, and there are a ton of hardworking folks who can't find a job at the moment. That's not debatable; it's simply fact (just like it's a fact that at ANY time in history, there are also going to be far too many folks who DON'T want to work and would rather have other folks do it for them; I don't think these folks are the majority, but they exist). <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
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HOWEVER, then the author goes too far, and ends the piece with this little nugget: </div>
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<strong>"Unless you're a millionaire reading this then we are all running the same race and quite simply some of have us just gotten luckier in our circumstances than others. That is all that separates us."<br /></strong>OK, Hoss, that's where you lost me. People who have succeeded more than others are ONLY there because of luck?<br /><br />Bzzzzzzt! Oh, so sorry. You've lost the lightning round.<br /><br />Is it just possible that in SOME cases, just MAYBE effort, determination, and forethought might have the slightest iota to do with it?</div>
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OK, I'm going to use myself as an example here. Bear in mind that my college paid me $19,000 last year, so it'll probably be a while before I can save up to be a millionaire; therefore I guess I have a right to address this "luck" pontification.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEincePCiwskSFU34C4ESHN2JrY7LkOBFhLNaa5PwEu8waQv1Txjfwty71zpYqTddYIVgIJeyEgrwHK3Hd8t-yrgGv8fQAO_BSeD44tftJICVJSKNzQ-LLYoi7ZK9GfoaM7uCUK86Bfu5PR8/s1600/300_235191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEincePCiwskSFU34C4ESHN2JrY7LkOBFhLNaa5PwEu8waQv1Txjfwty71zpYqTddYIVgIJeyEgrwHK3Hd8t-yrgGv8fQAO_BSeD44tftJICVJSKNzQ-LLYoi7ZK9GfoaM7uCUK86Bfu5PR8/s320/300_235191.jpg" width="205" /></a><br />In my own case, as most of you know, I occasionally get to write comic books (whereas I'd like to do so more than occasionally). Of course, I'm no heavy hitter when it comes to fame or fortune in comics (99% of comic readership hasn't the foggiest who I am), and by my standards I haven't accomplished anywhere near what I want to in the funnybook realm. But truth be told, I've accomplished more than the MAJORITY of folks who WANT to write comics (not those who actually have, but simply those who have that as their goal). I've been up for some Eisners, I've gotten to work on some fairly major characters, my work is being optioned for other media, and on the rare occasions when I DO work, I've gotten a decent page-rate.<br /><br />Now, the small success that I HAVE had in comics...is it all because of luck? Well, as I point out to folks when I'm interviewed, I probably wouldn't be doing this stuff professionally now if Jim McLauchlin hadn't wandered by my table at the 1997 Wizard World Chicago convention, noticed my comic Holey Crullers, and bought them and enjoyed them.<br /><br />Was there an element of sheer happenstance in that? Sure. If Jim had taken a different route around the convention floor, if he'd been distracted by a bug as he passed my table, etc., things might have gone completely differently. THAT could be considered good fortune, as it's not something I could control.</div>
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Now let's look at the elements that I COULD and DID control. Jim couldn't have picked up my comics had I not made the effort, that year and the six years previous, to go to the convention and peddle my unknown mini-comics (mainly to people who had no interest in reading them, and who had no problems letting you know that). I had to write the comics, find artists for the comics, print them up, fold and staple them, lug them to the convention and back, pay for the table, and push them on anyone and everyone I could.</div>
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Beyond that, he might not have LIKED my comics enough to make my comics career possible if I had not spent nine years in college specifically to improve my writing abilities, not to mention the fifteen years or so that I spent working at concession stands, convenience stores, gas stations, mowing lawns, etc. so that I had the money to PAY for those years of college.<br /><br />If you want to say that a guy who did EVERYTHING that I did to succeed, and then STILL failed, is only separated from me by circumstance, then maybe we might have a topic for discussion.<br /><br />But to say that ANYONE who doesn't succeed is only different from me because I was "lucky"? Sorry, but you're cuckoo for coco puffs. There's a PROFOUND difference between me and a guy whose only effort to get into the funnybook business is standing around bending the ear of his local comic shop owner about what great comics he would create if the Big Two would only have the brains and the nerve to "give me my shot!"<br /><br />Nine times out of ten, every success story that seems like mere "luck" has a TON of hard work and patience </div>
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behind it. Most overnight sensations happen over years, sometimes decades. But most failure is pretty much instantaneous, and yeah, most of the time it is equally due to what its "victim" has done or not done.<br /><br />Think of it like the stock market. Is there an element of luck to investment? Sure. A rutabaga crop can be destroyed by a drought, and you lose your shirt. It happens. But most of the time your success or failure in the market is due to which investments you make. If you bought into IBM years ago, you might have made a fortune. If you instead chose to put all your money into New Coke, you F-ed yourself in the A.</div>
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Likewise, I made an investment when I decided I wanted to write </div>
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comics. Truth be told, it may not have been the brightest investment, as my Master's in creative writing is hardly the key to gainful employment, and the comic book industry is neither stable nor going out of their way to hire unknown folks (they're more likely to hire well-known actors or directors or soccer players than a guy like me). <br /><br />But that was my choice. If I don't succeed, it's not because the Fates didn't smile on me, nor is it because there are a lot of mean people out there trying to hold me back. The credit or blame for my success or failure rests squarely on one guy, and he's the same one who makes sweet love to my girlfriend whenever possible (and if I ever CATCH that bastard...!).<br /><br />Are there folks out there suffering because of circumstances beyond their control? Sure, and hopefully we can quit dicking around and put policies in place that will encourage hiring rather than discouraging it. <br /><br />But to say that the only difference between a guy like myself... and another guy whose biggest investment in his comics-writing career was to buy every issue of Deadpool...is a matter of sheer LUCK?<br /><br />I'm a comic book writer, but even I can't pass off a fantasy like that...</div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-80170333643912524112012-04-16T13:54:00.018-07:002012-04-16T16:42:48.029-07:00Speech TherapySo recently I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak about comics at the <a href="http://www.tcc.edu/literaryfestival/">Tidewater Community College Literary Festival </a>(there's a mouthful...and yes, that's what she said) in Norfolk, VA, and I have to say, it was one of the best times I have had in recent memory. As is my nature, let me bullet point some of the highlights:<br /><div><br />* For me one of the best parts had to be meeting Suki and Wade Tooley, two of the nicest people I have ever met. Suki was responsible for (and deserves all the blame) for my invitation to the festival. She and Wade took it a heck of a lot farther than just being good hosts, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6uESm3GkJ2RZp2EBJvkYlCmAax9ThcgAxj_fDc96CneRALPc8bcCElW7fNs4HU0gBdnHaxwj_96-K9nRE7iXRrhNxouuWE9UXs9VfnGeH8ruOe4xURu47svb6VzYmD3IE5h9Rdxr0AXN/s1600/suki.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6uESm3GkJ2RZp2EBJvkYlCmAax9ThcgAxj_fDc96CneRALPc8bcCElW7fNs4HU0gBdnHaxwj_96-K9nRE7iXRrhNxouuWE9UXs9VfnGeH8ruOe4xURu47svb6VzYmD3IE5h9Rdxr0AXN/s200/suki.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732135443661645042" border="0" /></a>though. They <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEavUn7h7lJuZFUoAQ3bpA6eUubeoNU4loJmTh0XWnEoQGIgYkHlFqQxdlhFWvBPERFDLb3hsVJvD-zjQhOO4N3iMz_H2GhHzQZqbhszJdg05Kn4fBbUXz4abDlXUVV-8F8h5n1w5AQPan/s1600/149509_161880317178718_100000702536073_348934_1132832_n.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEavUn7h7lJuZFUoAQ3bpA6eUubeoNU4loJmTh0XWnEoQGIgYkHlFqQxdlhFWvBPERFDLb3hsVJvD-zjQhOO4N3iMz_H2GhHzQZqbhszJdg05Kn4fBbUXz4abDlXUVV-8F8h5n1w5AQPan/s200/149509_161880317178718_100000702536073_348934_1132832_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732135290780132066" border="0" /></a>treated me like a king (no, not Rodney), they wined me and dined me, and they were the best company anyone could have. Even though I couldn't have spent more than maybe twelve hours with them during the entire trip, I've rarely ever felt so close to two folks in such a short amount of time.<br />One of the nicest aspects was finding out that they're fairly "like-minded" when it comes to socio-political issues and the like. That might sound like a small matter, but in the charged atmospheres of academia and funnybooks that I patronize, it's NOT. Finding someone who actually (gasp!) dares to think like me is a rarity, and to be honest, in my emails with Suki in lining up the event, I never went into such matters, as far too often it can be a dealbreaker (I know we'd like to think folks are not that closed-minded, but don't kid yourself). But within a short time, it became clear that these two actually GET it. and we groused about stuff like we've known each other our whole lives.<br /><br />They were kind enough to pick me up at the airport (with Suki holding a sign that said "Troy Hickman" and Wade holding one that read "No, really, Troy Hickman," as I recall). They took me by the theater to see and get a photo of me standing under my name on the marquee (you wanna talk about surreal). They let me ride along with them to the Mark Wheatley speech the night before mine (I think Mark and I had met years ago, and we both vaguely remembered it). They took me out to dinner...and more dinner...and after dinner...and I think they were even present during my dinner with Andre. They did a hundred other things to make sure I had a grand time while I was there.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FVFB1AjaH3Oh6XSfef4jaAivGaWIveFNlSQOsWn7difRnlRA0m8t4zEuNMrsxWAvqg10KwePfYIVIyr5mktXUJciYG0bn8QU3TmDMpB1e2pK4cy3Xm_OpNeQRbuUmpMCV1n36ouO2AQ5/s1600/561186_3745163790376_1314696455_3584367_2001725344_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FVFB1AjaH3Oh6XSfef4jaAivGaWIveFNlSQOsWn7difRnlRA0m8t4zEuNMrsxWAvqg10KwePfYIVIyr5mktXUJciYG0bn8QU3TmDMpB1e2pK4cy3Xm_OpNeQRbuUmpMCV1n36ouO2AQ5/s200/561186_3745163790376_1314696455_3584367_2001725344_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732148012040581074" border="0" /></a><br />And you know the best part? Truth be told, I may sound like a sappy goof when I say this, but when has that ever stopped me before? The best part is that I sincerely feel like I've made a couple of new friends, and that's not something I do too often, and it means a hell of a lot. They're wonderful people, and very smart, and exceedingly funny, and I'm so glad to know them (and right now, anyone who knows me is thinking "so why would smart, funny people hang out with you, T-Bone?").<br /><br />* Speaking of smart, funny friends, I was about twenty minutes into my speech, squinting out into the crowd (they never really turned down the lights, so I couldn't see very far into the vastness of the place), when I noticed there was a young woman down front who was smiling and laughing at everything I said. My first thought was "there's a nitrous oxide leak in the theater!"<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_THWbv1uS0Jx3menQoXRAZyoFuB47DrU3jyA4nhkqIX-8DzXIk-pJGLFHkqrmMp0PXcfXASzTxGS9attBsFJjk9c2mHNPUFkwGVVZplKYee6fowKMx3p4gdRTabdBFekH32xeVhBnwLNo/s1600/sondra.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_THWbv1uS0Jx3menQoXRAZyoFuB47DrU3jyA4nhkqIX-8DzXIk-pJGLFHkqrmMp0PXcfXASzTxGS9attBsFJjk9c2mHNPUFkwGVVZplKYee6fowKMx3p4gdRTabdBFekH32xeVhBnwLNo/s200/sondra.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732135288935219986" border="0" /></a>Eventually, though, I realized it was my friend Sondra, whom I've known for ten odd years, but had never actually met before. Over the last decade, she's also been incredibly kind and supportive towards me, so it was a tremendous thrill to see that she'd made it to the speech (she lives nearby). Sondra is an absolute force of nature, by the way. I try to surround myself with people who are bright and quick-witted (to make up for my obvious limitations), and she's just freakishly good, so much so that she should really be in stand-up or some other area of the business of show. She went with us to "dinner" (OK, it turned out to be a Sprite) after the speech, and at one point, in a forty-five second window (yes, I notice stuff like that), she went from a southern belle accent to a high British accent to what might be best described as a "Maury show guest" accent, and all with top-notch ad-lib material. She's like what Robin Williams would be if he were funny. And, like Suki and Wade, just one of the best people I have ever had the privilege of knowing, just so normal and decent and kind, but then, I've known that for years. Sweet baby gherkins, why are such people associating with a reprobate like myself?<br /><br />* I got to stay at the Marriott Waterside, a really nice hotel downtown. Is there anything cooler than having your own hotel room? I'm one of those folks that uses absolutely EVERY amenity they provide, from the ice bucket, to the steam iron, to the shoe polishing cloth. They had some great facilities, too, with a really complete exercise room, a 24 hour laundry, etc.<br /><br />I did have a brief moment of terror, though, when I went outside to take a look at the outdoor hot tub, only to realize that I couldn't pull the door back open once I was out there. There was <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSEihBC7gdU5n1YUOuVo9XT6yhNBG31xuWxVOU9fiPCuQ_ytz3G6_lHTSCGYJ3yPRaoUs6F8DLsfwNGRiCP8Y3c8AQ-tDebx-RLcJBrUjMNR1hJtjzvanIgdGUcP_hHsqhk7lS3ZJfNisw/s1600/190b.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSEihBC7gdU5n1YUOuVo9XT6yhNBG31xuWxVOU9fiPCuQ_ytz3G6_lHTSCGYJ3yPRaoUs6F8DLsfwNGRiCP8Y3c8AQ-tDebx-RLcJBrUjMNR1hJtjzvanIgdGUcP_hHsqhk7lS3ZJfNisw/s200/190b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732142566185317266" border="0" /></a>NO ONE else around, and it was only an hour or two before they were going to come and get me for the speech, so I began to panic, worrying that I'd miss it because I was trapped out there with the hot tub.<br /><br />Of course, then I realized that the door opens in instead of out. You know, for ostensibly a fairly bright guy, I can be quite the dullard. That photo on the right, btw, was taken about thirty seconds before I started panicking...<br /><br />Here's a fact that will tell you everything you need to know about Troy Hickman: the first night at the hotel, I rode the elevator to every floor (there are 24 of them) to check out what soft drinks were in each vending room.<br /><br />* The food was just fantastic during the whole trip, and I'm sad to admit I probably put on ten pounds in the couple days I was there. On Wednesday, after the Wheatley speech, there was a FANTASTIC spread of food at the reception, and I gobbled it up in a manner that would've shamed PacMan (and frankly, he needs shaming). Then, because that's not enough to sustain my brobdingnagian girth, Wade and Suki took me out to a great place for sushi and tempura and about a dozen other things that I wolfed down. Of course, after half a night's sleep,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5gE7NxMUy2-D_3rkotS0Ul9edYCjjCtI5Vp4Rkz_CG8rgEv1JHMdcQl1eq5Ja5vUBxpkW7r5RFpnDL-0UwsWtVZI0zEI1N9tqPfmma7-N3oVwOhxPQhJEkXTHbObUWNJm0bZFg1IpHVsU/s1600/orfws_phototour37.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5gE7NxMUy2-D_3rkotS0Ul9edYCjjCtI5Vp4Rkz_CG8rgEv1JHMdcQl1eq5Ja5vUBxpkW7r5RFpnDL-0UwsWtVZI0zEI1N9tqPfmma7-N3oVwOhxPQhJEkXTHbObUWNJm0bZFg1IpHVsU/s200/orfws_phototour37.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732139366761469346" border="0" /></a> I had to get down to the hotel' BREAKFAST BUFFET (hey, it was included in the hefty price of the room). Then there was my pre-speech meal (a great plate of fish and chips), followed by the reception food, followed by the buffet again the next morning, and---well, let's just say that I left Virginia looking like Mr. Creosote...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFu6re2ZG8oyz-GVK48hPW7wIE67GrUOcaENbazQpfE5eBlFtTeCXWcBZ0pcetq9axiLADjyS1sWFopWwl8_S7uIE9SeUxhGh9c3DNDIw6sVhjIn4Ii9XIpngFUWSvCJ436BsqAdXr2gLo/s1600/TroyHickmanTall.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFu6re2ZG8oyz-GVK48hPW7wIE67GrUOcaENbazQpfE5eBlFtTeCXWcBZ0pcetq9axiLADjyS1sWFopWwl8_S7uIE9SeUxhGh9c3DNDIw6sVhjIn4Ii9XIpngFUWSvCJ436BsqAdXr2gLo/s200/TroyHickmanTall.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732135300154235650" border="0" /></a>* The speech itself, if what folks are telling me is true (and not an attempt to spare my Cindy Brady-like feelings), went very well. The theater is a beautiful old place, and they gave me mine own dressing room (it had a wall-length mirror with lights around it, just like in the movies!), brought me down for a mic check (and yes, I said "sibilance, sibilance" just like you'd expect me to), and set me up with a cool remote control for my slide show.<br /><br />I was nervous as hell at first, but after a few minutes I loosened up and got on with the business of explaining how I'd gotten into funnybooks, and more importantly, how I'd managed to keep loving them while dealing with them as a business.<br /><br />Folks seemed to dig it, and at the signing in the lobby afterw<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gktbCAsbyMnvBCOgQ3bRldAX_kyNRQhxrBiL_mpj2oiGFlUYMf27OW41PcFxDqU8qTz4zfMagziv6ar9MCH97GovWZKSY71btar7TFiZr46iLHsN9rEOvNlixErjKkFNgpkguyfyMHl6/s1600/TroyHickmanMain2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 108px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gktbCAsbyMnvBCOgQ3bRldAX_kyNRQhxrBiL_mpj2oiGFlUYMf27OW41PcFxDqU8qTz4zfMagziv6ar9MCH97GovWZKSY71btar7TFiZr46iLHsN9rEOvNlixErjKkFNgpkguyfyMHl6/s200/TroyHickmanMain2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732135299321043282" border="0" /></a>ards, the good folks from Barnes and Nobles sold out of the Common Grounds trade paperback. I also met some fantastic people (I was especially taken by the two little kids, (Isabelle and her brother, I believe), who showed their fine manners and upbringing by coming over before they left and shaking my hand, saying "it was nice to meet you, Mr. Hickman." What a sweet, sweet thing.<br /><br />And Suki presented me with a lovely silver engraved cup as a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XFJ-q4Q61f2R_tmhPjQsrVBO1L9OcL8L7FrHirZPT0s-a8zHoVDnV3lLSsSsUZ_Mq4kOFt1EHeKCevWeBjhyj2rYnU4pkDFWgl0ivee0tsgGVZuRl_tdBpE-dGU5wHF4rcSpGC8hdtRx/s1600/209.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XFJ-q4Q61f2R_tmhPjQsrVBO1L9OcL8L7FrHirZPT0s-a8zHoVDnV3lLSsSsUZ_Mq4kOFt1EHeKCevWeBjhyj2rYnU4pkDFWgl0ivee0tsgGVZuRl_tdBpE-dGU5wHF4rcSpGC8hdtRx/s200/209.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5732138004800428914" border="0" /></a>memento. I'm going to tell people it was given to me by the people of Virginia for saving them from the Stone Men of Saturn...<br /><br />Anyway, it was just a wonderful trip (and the moolah doesn't hurt either!), and I sincerely hope I can do more of this sort of thing in the future. Thanks so much to Suki, and Wade, and Sondra, and all the fine folks at Tidewater, and even to the lady at the hotel restaurant who seemed mad that I only tipped her the FIRST day I was there for the buffet (hey, it's hard to know what 20% of zero is!). I love comics!</div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-8450604539856057962012-04-11T12:38:00.010-07:002012-04-11T13:01:50.369-07:00Hey, Kids...Comics!<div><br /><div><br /><div>Hiya! It’s been a while, and yeah, I really have to post here more often. So I will! What I wanted to gab about with you today was a quite sublime afternoon I had not long ago. As you may know, I have my own home now, and like the house in which I grew up (which is a mere seven feet north of my new digs), there’s a great porch where I can sit and read on a warm day (or sit an freeze on a cold one if I want; hey, it’s my place, so it’s my frostbite!). </div><br /><br /><div>Anyway, not long ago I took a bit of “me time” on a Sunday afternoon, and I perused a stack of comics sent to me by my pal Sebastian Piccione. And what a grand time I had! What you have to realize, folks, is that between teaching, writing, taking care of the new house, etc., I don’t have much time for reading, and that includes comics. Also, to be honest, if I DO have time for funnybooks, I’d much prefer to read some of my unread Silver Age acquisitions, rather than the doom-and-gloom, Character X-is-so-bad-ass, big-thing-of-the-month comics that currently hit the stands.So imagine my joy when I sat down with Seb’s stack of comics, and actually ENJOYED some current sequential art for a change. Let me go into some specifics about each book:</div><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOR8yoQJdfOpxx-x_WwGhldCBB5mW0xbX5-vobficaEg7lNa-41KH6m_ifwIt5KL_eYCS4KcYfD06Fx9VchhZagVMpN5MWBn2e3PB675_6JmVXQUlzm2v4gN-RRzyxCPyrvPPC6ARjIKp6/s1600/270526_10150257757174695_111027179694_7288387_1919157_n.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 138px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730230675207538530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOR8yoQJdfOpxx-x_WwGhldCBB5mW0xbX5-vobficaEg7lNa-41KH6m_ifwIt5KL_eYCS4KcYfD06Fx9VchhZagVMpN5MWBn2e3PB675_6JmVXQUlzm2v4gN-RRzyxCPyrvPPC6ARjIKp6/s200/270526_10150257757174695_111027179694_7288387_1919157_n.jpg" /></a>Cat. 5 – This is a very cool comic about a solo heroine (the kind of comic that tends to be hard to do successfully, if years of Wonder Woman, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, and various other comics are any indication). It has a really nice, breezy feel to it. For me, though, the most interesting thing is our gal’s origins. As I was reading it, I said to myself “wow, it really feels like the kind of character that grows out of superhero gaming.” And sure enough, when I got to the editorial page at the end, yup, that’s from whence she came. Folks, that’s no small deal to me, either, as most of the characters from my (everybody together now…Eisner-nominated) series Common Grounds were originally either player characters or NPCs in my fifteen-year Champions RPG campaign. I’m guessing a lot of Seb’s other characters stem from his gaming as well. Clever, coherhent scripting, and solid art (nice use of grey tones). It reminds me of the self-published indy superhero comics from the eighties that I dug so much.</div><br /><br /><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 134px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730231064873167970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazqxDjrDY18AiyVYjDFQunZAZaEXDWUv2iUWeC9AaVoRWjePG6ylwxlSxlI5DNCQQ7KrHQ-mrdsO5HDSrvvGLcV7ZtiIqE6GYPdZBbpFuI11RyBN6AYxvDcJ8iSTDEl7PtIMBD3blqLh_/s200/AF_COVER.jpg" />Allied Forces – Yes! A very well-done WW2 comic. At the moment, my pal Stan Timmons and I are working on a pitch for a WW2 superhero comic, so reading this really put me in the right frame of mind. I really dig the multi-national heroes. It reminds me of something Roy Thomas would’ve done <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBaDXbPEskGSfbTwqvdJld5B7guDd2Tzs2pzCHzQAPRHKRmlNOp40SDQGG11ERwew4ZT15lj6OH9TDE1Git8x_SjBJpkH1fI1lg7eR6GxFPjSK4GVwKKP2kI7-JtzioQz9B1vJJZxffQT/s1600/AF_COVER.jpg"></a>thirty years ago, and that’s high praise. I really appreciate the attention to detail. The artwork is very clean and appropriate to the time period (with some excellent coloring work). I’m anxious to see where this goes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Heroic Tales – A very cool superhero anthology (and man, we don’t see many of those these days). The first tale features Conversion, and deals with our hero turning matter into energy (some cool possibilities there), and dealing with the villainous Brickbat (given Seb’s penchant for puns, you know I have to enjoy this stuff). <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 134px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730231236081124066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ8xZGFOGnfzoTLiqDwYDMnGblOyGEf_nKrU9TkgiHibDjP_M1T1DSb4ErBQmXICvbO8cc_gV0vqifB2Hy2BwgzPxyWBy5bbqKtqAYpjhoMOHTNvBAS8gPrteHQG5LkcBhsVkhUI2YOPU/s200/404222_3081048749084_1349781847_3191135_2071558026_n.jpg" />Again, a very nice light superhero feel to it, the kind of thing that would bring me back to mainstream comics in droves if they could manage it (but I’m afraid that far too many current creatures have a heart that’s two sizes too small). The second feature is the U.S.A. (United Super Americans), and has a great team with pun names that I envy (I wish I could’ve made people wince with ‘em!). Really top-notch artwork throughout the comic.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjSoKlDQeP3EST4jOMwHaCkdfQ_VLcSgQK8PUDcCYbQGMx57JNti_S5E3ooaZbxF0BiNCsGdQDSbQKykWCnAB4RSdxqjLwo8cnnvGSJ6gmVMTXhlXdPysyhw5l5EZ1qsNItyVYT88K9aY/s1600/409081_3152680859842_1349781847_3218582_230078830_n.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 134px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730231545551311106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjSoKlDQeP3EST4jOMwHaCkdfQ_VLcSgQK8PUDcCYbQGMx57JNti_S5E3ooaZbxF0BiNCsGdQDSbQKykWCnAB4RSdxqjLwo8cnnvGSJ6gmVMTXhlXdPysyhw5l5EZ1qsNItyVYT88K9aY/s200/409081_3152680859842_1349781847_3218582_230078830_n.jpg" /></a>Never Look Back #2 – A very well-done anthology about the denizens of Charlton City, who tend to be up to their eyeballs in crime and corruption. A great noir feel here. Seb’s piece is the best (great allusions to Charlton the comics company, btw), but the whole book is snazzy. I love the concept, as it allows for all sorts of great human interest stuff. If they do more of these, they should put me down for a spot, as it plays to the sort of short self-contained pieces I like.<br /><br />All in all, the best time I've had reading comics in a while. Thanks so much, Seb.<br /><br />Cat. 5 can be found <a href="http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6317">here</a>: and HEROIC TALES #1 <a href="http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=6690">here</a>. (And I believe Seb said Allied Forces would be available there soon).<br /><br />Hey, comic industry, put more fun into comics, both for the reader, and more importantly FOR YOURSELVES, and you'll get me sitting on my porch more often.<br /><br />Also, put more fun into comics by hiring me for more stuff. I'm just saying...</div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-21603008915713231312012-02-10T16:23:00.000-08:002012-02-10T16:44:07.133-08:00I May Be Just a Writer, But This Is Where I Draw The Line<span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">A couple of folks have asked me about the Gary Friedrich matter and my take on it. So here it is.</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"><br /><br />As most everyone reading this knows, you will not find too many folks more adamant about intellectual property rights than me. And in the strictest sense, Marvel may have a legal case, given work for hire contracts.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><h6 style="font-weight: normal; font-family:arial;" class="uiStreamMessage" ft="{"type":1}"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/4.20.08GaryFriedrichByLuigiNovi.JPG/230px-4.20.08GaryFriedrichByLuigiNovi.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 206px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/4.20.08GaryFriedrichByLuigiNovi.JPG/230px-4.20.08GaryFriedrichByLuigiNovi.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></h6><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">But personally, do I think they should be trying to get 17K out of him for Ghost Rider related prints and such at cons? No. First of all, if they ARE</span></span></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> going to do such things, they'd damned well better do it equally to every creator at a con who in any way uses the image of one of their properties. And they're not going to do that, because there would be a mutiny among their artists, some of whom make a fair chunk of change from selling artwork and sketches at cons. Secondly, while Gary may not own the rights to the character, I don't think anyone is disputing that he played a part in GR's creation, and that should allow him a certain leeway, even if it's an informal one.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br face="times new roman"></span><h6 style="font-weight: normal; font-family:arial;" class="uiStreamMessage" ft="{"type":1}"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> </span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Let me put it this way. There were something like a dozen or more artists involved in the making of Common Grounds #1-6. Those guys are more than welcome to do pics of said characters at conventions if requested, for profit or gratis, as far as Troy Hickman is concerned, and I hope that the good folks at Top Cow feel the same.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br face="times new roman"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br face="times new roman"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> Now, yeah, if those pics were being done in the nude (the character, not the guy drawing it), or someone were claiming they created the character when they didn't, or they were creating new stories with the character rather than a pin-up, that might be a different thing. But that doesn't seem to be the case here.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br face="times new roman"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br face="times new roman"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> I sat about twenty feet across from Gary at a con not long ago, and he sure didn't seem to me to be doing anything that would bring any harm, financially or otherwise, to the publisher. He just seemed to be doing the same thing that I do at conventions: associating myself with something I created, and hopefully getting more folks interested in the characters.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br face="times new roman"></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> Either way, I think this is going to be a PR fiasco for the folks involved..</span><span style="font-size:130%;">.</span></span></span></h6>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-38407073730230814122011-11-09T13:53:00.000-08:002011-11-09T13:54:16.795-08:00T'pau, right in the kisser!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmqj7uT8pF9wIH2UixNo-hLfLjE1EYAlq9pgHvzba5lvf6Q2gDJfQUBop1SBjYYtKWBgGnybwMnW43wHstRWyj3VrSRCtQlMINPqGGNkgbWHzGicN6AMmsI_gdB85kjCsLNEClivRx-iR/s1600/340x_evil_spock.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 340px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 353px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673117587254573474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmqj7uT8pF9wIH2UixNo-hLfLjE1EYAlq9pgHvzba5lvf6Q2gDJfQUBop1SBjYYtKWBgGnybwMnW43wHstRWyj3VrSRCtQlMINPqGGNkgbWHzGicN6AMmsI_gdB85kjCsLNEClivRx-iR/s400/340x_evil_spock.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-31651083143419172902011-10-12T08:24:00.001-07:002011-10-12T08:26:17.605-07:00Hmmm...If "I was born this way" is a valid rationalization for stuff, why do the cops keep arresting me when I leave the house naked and poop in the middle of a crowd of strangers?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://listphobia.com/wp-content/uploads/Lady-Gaga-Meat-Suit.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 340px;" src="http://listphobia.com/wp-content/uploads/Lady-Gaga-Meat-Suit.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-66720356679226834512011-10-11T07:48:00.001-07:002011-10-12T07:43:41.034-07:00Hey, It Makes Just As Much Sense...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTC_Q_b3-QkzIm1D4AVOr0KcC8Bf3xaUbPV5eWG1m9o18a6mEFfplltv7KIA1pz8uF4iQ0t78ndBe4S_2RKN9XcXc7nzSWXfIvUevETUxfaudVTl04IiNec_2hAERRKMZSJ4pjdBS8yS99/s1600/adrian+street.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTC_Q_b3-QkzIm1D4AVOr0KcC8Bf3xaUbPV5eWG1m9o18a6mEFfplltv7KIA1pz8uF4iQ0t78ndBe4S_2RKN9XcXc7nzSWXfIvUevETUxfaudVTl04IiNec_2hAERRKMZSJ4pjdBS8yS99/s400/adrian+street.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662616260450144082" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPJPGAuejmSVDVfPBLliMrzkl5PmdwHLX6yS_4kc4iy5O4xAqVbLcMqDi07hFzPsa-X93ct9WUZEkGQE5YT7ORZdP7A36sg4vwPaaaN68jGF6BIZkZYvuf9y3sPRbAGh0jlVjTP33PiUSM/s1600/picabo.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 285px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPJPGAuejmSVDVfPBLliMrzkl5PmdwHLX6yS_4kc4iy5O4xAqVbLcMqDi07hFzPsa-X93ct9WUZEkGQE5YT7ORZdP7A36sg4vwPaaaN68jGF6BIZkZYvuf9y3sPRbAGh0jlVjTP33PiUSM/s400/picabo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662423336235721346" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLJFkua9n-y3gBSsI6wBFZCmOria5zOo6dsHIHQSZ8RVPer7jCzkfwik5fiBvhx9aY8P78uAE39cfGoD3zeMJ4WFc00BHxfvI-sU1bxsome2QLpp_feqfgX_zBvpUcrOdoVi7V5FD-BlL/s1600/della.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLJFkua9n-y3gBSsI6wBFZCmOria5zOo6dsHIHQSZ8RVPer7jCzkfwik5fiBvhx9aY8P78uAE39cfGoD3zeMJ4WFc00BHxfvI-sU1bxsome2QLpp_feqfgX_zBvpUcrOdoVi7V5FD-BlL/s400/della.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662246682732877570" border="0" /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-58680720508159279202010-10-21T16:11:00.000-07:002010-10-22T17:01:29.202-07:00Searing Intestinal Cramps of the DeadSo the other night Gabriel and I watched the new Romero zombie flick, Survival of the Dead. What's my reaction? Well, I've rarely envied the decaying creatures in the film when their heads explode from a shotgun blast, but this outing just may have done it. I wasn't a particular fan of Land of the Dead, though it had a moment or two, and Diary of the Dead was no opus, though it added a new element or two to the tried and true formula. But either of those films were Night of the Magnificently Dead <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ambersons</span> compared to this. The DVD starts with George Romero telling us that this particular bit of dead cinema is going to have elements of comedy as well as horror. Speaking as someone who writes stuff for a living, I can vouch for the fact that this usually means "hey, some of this is intentionally funny, so feel free to laugh when you get to those obvious spots." Right there I assumed there might be trouble, as such things should come out of the material naturally, not as a caveat from the director before the festivities.<br /><div><br /></div><br /><p><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 356px; display: block; height: 400px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530654077913451762" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5bl-RZxPvtcORYUWlmJ-9NfFZEDy12E-TxpnxXWNPCq09gGKoyrOkvE0mR19mQy2rAc8LUSC3J9J0mjUj_o9r-_uv4JzAmbi3kbz_F3ZS7XqbGy_htviyNB44QhyMZCVYz4Vu-cz5tJD/s400/survival_of_the_dead_1.jpg" border="0" /><br />The plot revolves around a place called Plum Island, Delaware, where two feuding families, the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">O'Flynns</span> and the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Muldoons</span>, are having a disagreement over whether the dead should be shot through the head and dispatched, or kept around like family heirlooms. No, I'm not kidding. Just imagine the guys on American Pickers saying "Hey, how much for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Grampa's</span> animated corpse?" As if the premise weren't enough, these two clans are not just Irish; they're <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Irishy</span>-Irish, with Irish trimming. When they're not hunting zombies (or making up a place for them at the dinner table), they've GOT to be out keeping kids from their Lucky Charms. The accents flow thicker than Brock <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lesnar's</span> neck. No, I'm not sure why this island in Delaware is some sort of Land that Time Forgot for the fighting Irish, any more that I'm sure George Romero has ever even been to Delaware. But that's what we're given, so go with it.<br /><br />And there's gore, of course, as that's what we're expecting, but it's a fairly goofy grade of gore for a Romero flick (at one point a head gets blown off, and the hat comes back down and lands on the bloody stump of the neck). But what it DOESN'T have is much of a plot, beyond the fact that one of the feuding families wants to try to teach the undead to eat non-human meat (in this case a horse). </p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFexDTunrgGoezv_hy6dTufDYZaRJV77_-am5AbahI-O-_1WIvsH2YWT0bS3-bSP1AM4CqYueSkZwoduFBPRwrE2E-q11-Q3vYZtrqmgvohRyJJqwIjIdAOb2CvoQujazFKlqUEef1K6y/s1600/survivalofthedead.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px; float: left; height: 219px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530654556800362482" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFexDTunrgGoezv_hy6dTufDYZaRJV77_-am5AbahI-O-_1WIvsH2YWT0bS3-bSP1AM4CqYueSkZwoduFBPRwrE2E-q11-Q3vYZtrqmgvohRyJJqwIjIdAOb2CvoQujazFKlqUEef1K6y/s400/survivalofthedead.jpg" border="0" /></a>And therein lies part of the problem. Generally speaking, zombie movies have a tradition of the zombie menace/virus/curse/whatever spreading through humans. And there's a good reason for that. Think about it; if it could be spread by other animals, mosquitoes and other insects would convert everyone on earth in a matter of days. Or, even if it were confined to mammals, think about all the mice, rats, etc. out there. There's NOWHERE you could be safe for any length of time. No, it's been restricted to homo <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">sapiens</span> for a pretty darn good reason, plot-wise.<br /><br />But if zombies are suddenly willing to treat my friend <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Flicka</span> as their next Happy Meal, there's a pretty good chance that animals could carry the dead-factor, too. And even if they couldn't, the logic of it makes no real sense. Why would they have to TEACH a zombie to eat a horse rather than a human? The hunger is either there or its not.<br /><br />While I'm at it, by the way, if zombies are NOT interested in eating animals, why aren't the streets overrun with our furry friends? In Indiana, for example, we have to have an active hunting season to keep the deer population manageable, and even then we're constantly hitting the overflow with our cars. So if suddenly most of the population are zombies and no longer interested in Bambi, why aren't there deer hopping around in the background of every scene? </p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_dLZrKi6XXIJYdoNE3NFHdZpfxkW6gGA6fSortUEkhKxny5G2UVWEp-gA59WjmxJiJB2yld7MAfu06PjIMI7KKCuXJ8oQPpOBVCfF_lsC4QQ5Msxk8Qcqr-RZXGTw4s5-R_2CWxlw8vF/s1600/george_romero_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 400px; float: right; height: 355px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530654786529791634" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_dLZrKi6XXIJYdoNE3NFHdZpfxkW6gGA6fSortUEkhKxny5G2UVWEp-gA59WjmxJiJB2yld7MAfu06PjIMI7KKCuXJ8oQPpOBVCfF_lsC4QQ5Msxk8Qcqr-RZXGTw4s5-R_2CWxlw8vF/s400/george_romero_01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />And <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">criminy</span>, George, I know directors have themes that are central to their work, but you've beaten the soldier and Cletus horse until even your zombies can't resurrect him. We get it: you don't like rednecks or the military. We've heard it in every undead flick you've ever made. By your reckoning, the earth's only salvation is going to be college professors living on the coasts. Oh, wait, they won't have the prerequisite guns; I hope they know how to take out a zombie with a Meerschaum pipe and a copy of the New Republic.<br /><br />Anyway, if you're looking for a top-notch zombie epic, you'll probably be better off waiting for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">AMC's</span> adaptation of The Walking Dead, starting on Halloween. I'm pretty sure it won't have dialog like Sarge "Nicotine" Crockett saying "In an us versus them world, pretty soon no one remembers who started the war in the first place, and the fighting becomes all about these stupid flags." Tune in for the next installment, "Moral Equivalency of the Dead!"</p>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-45608088797536237952010-06-03T15:14:00.001-07:002010-06-03T16:31:21.800-07:00The Prodigal Son<a href="http://www.steveenglehart.com/Comics/Comics%20Images/Our%20Love%20Story%2015.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 258px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 382px" alt="" src="http://www.steveenglehart.com/Comics/Comics%20Images/Our%20Love%20Story%2015.jpg" border="0" /></a> So I'm back from Canada. A few random thoughts about the trip:<br /><br />* With each trip, leaving Lea becomes harder and harder. I can't begin to describe what it's like to spend every day of your life with someone (on the phone), then be in their presence for two glorious weeks...ONLY to have to leave them again. I'd venture that we're as close to husband and wife as anyone can be, given our circumstances, and yet 90% of the time we can't so much as hold hands. I think there must be a bolgia in Hell that's a lot like this.<br /><div><div><div><div><br /><div>* On the flight home, this snooty British guy sitting next to me kept giving me dirty looks (I think it was because I was eating my tinfoil-wrapped cheese sandwich in his presence). I would've felt bad if he hadn't spent at least forty-five minutes out of the flight <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7F1Iue1zhpO-z93_0Qsz1FbfF0LX6NDHDk1MAt4OPu_YEAu0qtxm7eOF3wK6NyaKJKoukQDpkBFVPRoJY4YGZlcp6oCPRAz-hg-YZIEgXEsoDdtQko4XbHj0mp74J7W-dOup7Yo-mL4o4/s1600/nose_picking.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478685586516767986" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 131px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7F1Iue1zhpO-z93_0Qsz1FbfF0LX6NDHDk1MAt4OPu_YEAu0qtxm7eOF3wK6NyaKJKoukQDpkBFVPRoJY4YGZlcp6oCPRAz-hg-YZIEgXEsoDdtQko4XbHj0mp74J7W-dOup7Yo-mL4o4/s200/nose_picking.jpg" border="0" /></a>WITH HIS FINGER BURIED IN HIS RIGHT NOSTRIL UP TO THE @#$% ELBOW! I'm not kidding; this guy quite literally did not remove his finger from his nose through an episode of The Office and half of a National Geographic special. The next time someone tries to tell me how refined the Brits are in comparison to we ugly Americans, I'm going to play this charming memory in my uncouth colonial head. Oh, and he ate it.</div><br /><div>* My back is severely messed up, and I think it's as a result of (A) being crammed for six hours into a tiny airline seat (about 18" wide, unlike my body), and (B) driving a compact car for a total of about twenty hours as we drove to see Lea's family. I don't mind the experience of flying at all, but the experience of being sardined into a plane doesn't thrill me, and I've had it with long stopovers at the airport (I don't mind an hour or so, but when I end up having to sleep there, it's not my idea of a good time).</div><br /><div>* I continue to have a hate/hate relationship with public transportation. Damn it all to hell! Most of the time I'm at Lea's, I have to take the bus, and I'd much rather have my back messed up by a rental car than to have to endure the Gehenna that IS the Vancouver bus system. No, as such systems go, it's probably not a bad one at all. But that's rather like saying "As a means of splaying my urethra open, a filet knife ain't so bad!" I always hear folks telling me "I LOVE the public transportation where I live! It's efficient and clean!" OK, tell you what: if you have a system that (A) allows you not to have to be pressed up against total strangers, (B) has enough seats that no one has to stand up, (C) can always get you within a block of where you're going, and (D) has a new bus coming to every stop every five minutes instead of fifteen or thirty, THEN we'll talk. Until then, keep your stinking public transportation paws off me, you damned dirty commuter! </div><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 350px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5BXPV-c1mdGxir4jzkFalhmu_s13Mhnja80FYd0_IxMvftBd_L2tW3VJ5_TlcnsJ0FXBb-F_5hqX770Ot4mMjHJnEHucqd31F_DUTlc4DrS2j6oOBA3myizIAcngtaRgq-STkCFoViE/s640/Vancouver+Public+Transit.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>I just don't think human beings were meant to be treated like cargo, or like animals, and that's how I feel on the bus. If there's one thing I love about America (and there are thousands), it's that we're a car culture with the freedom to go where and when we want, according to OUR schedule, not the city's. And for you greenies out there, if you can make that happen for me just as easily with solar or electric powered cars (and hopefully you realize how electricity is generated), then that's OK by me, too.</div><div></div><div></div><div><a href="http://blog.ivman.com/wp-content/Individualism.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 500px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 483px" alt="" src="http://blog.ivman.com/wp-content/Individualism.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div>I think it's all part of the way I find myself feeling in more recent years. I DON'T think I'm becoming more misanthropic, but I DO find myself, whether because of my rugged individualism or interest in objectivism or just exposure to PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, to be realizing how much of what bothers me about the world having to do with a group mentality rather than an individual one. The more I think about it, the more I find myself realizing that human beings are a pretty amazing species, but most of what I like about us involves who we each are as unique beings, not what we do as a collective.<br /></div><div></div><div></div><div><a href="http://purplegables.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/homeless-guy-in-vancouver.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 403px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 519px" alt="" src="http://purplegables.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/homeless-guy-in-vancouver.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div>Maybe that's why I want to be someone who can take myself to Walmart at 2:17am, in the privacy of my car, with the Upper Crust singing "Let Them Eat Rock," to get a bag of Cheezies rather than have to be packed into a stinking bus next to a crackhead who keeps yelling "they never bought me a dog!" at exactly 3:15 in the afternoon (barring a fifteen minute delay), making three transfers, standing up the whole time, watching idiots spit at a bus stop outside Walmart, then spending the next hour making the same damned trip home.<br /></div><div>If that's the world you want, then excuse me if I do everything possible to keep myself from living in it.</div><br /><div>* I watched a little kid at O'Hare Airport chasing a cleaning woman's cart around because he thought she was selling ice cream. Now THAT'S comedy.</div><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-2076235913427757102010-03-30T15:08:00.000-07:002010-03-30T22:20:59.406-07:00Let's All Go to the Lobby...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fti.asn.au/blogs/scene_heard/lips_robb_anvil.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 507px;" src="http://www.fti.asn.au/blogs/scene_heard/lips_robb_anvil.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>OK, here are quick reviews of twenty movies I've seen in recent months...and...go!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anvil: The Story of Anvil</span> - I'm guessing the majority of folks who read this blog have already seen this film, but if not, for the love of Zod go rent it! It's the story of the band Anvil, who at one time were thought to be the "next big thing," but never were. It's heartfelt, and tear-jerking, and hilarious, and insightful, and just...wonderful. These guys are such lugs, and you can't help but feel for them (and those of us who have toiled in relative obscurity for years will absolutely empathize with 'em). If you can watch this without both laughing and crying...well, you're probably not someone I'm going to invite to my swanky dinner parties.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pontypool</span> - Another little gem. This was stars Stephen McHattie as an Imus-style radio personality who, along with a few other folks, finds himself trapped inside a radio station in the midst of the most unusual zombie apocalypse ever. I can't say much more than that without giving away the plot, but trust me, this is one of the more cerebral walking dead films you'll ever see. Just...peculiar. But in a very interesting way<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/Pontypool/pontypool2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 338px;" src="http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/Pontypool/pontypool2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Farmhouse</span> - Holy moley, mother of god...this one knocked the wind out of me...OK, so it stars, among other folks, Steven Weber. Have I ever mentioned how much I cannot stand Steven Weber? Between his oh-so-affected acting and his moronic political rants, he's also not coming to my swanky dinner parties. But anyway, the movie is about a young couple who get mixed up with another young couple, and the latter duo are quite dangerous and insane. Now, up until the last twenty minutes or so, it's a bit like a much lesser version of Kalifornia...if Kalifornia had the DUMBEST...ENDING...EVER. I'm not joking. When I say this thing jumped the shark, I mean it jumped <a href="http://www.teentoday.co.uk/images/uploads/mega-shark-bridge.jpg">Mega-Shark</a>. I'd tell you not to watch this piece of crapola, but really, you HAVE to see the ending. It's sublime in its awfulness.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/martyrs-445x334.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 445px; height: 334px;" src="http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/martyrs-445x334.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Martyrs</span> - I'm not sure what to say about this one. It's ostensibly a movie about a woman who is kidnapped and tortured, but not in a Hostel or Saw sort of manner. It had a great number of twists and turns, and I wasn't really sure HOW to feel about it, but there was something about the ending that won me over. If I may channel Mitch Hedberg for a sec, I'm sure people will either love it or hate it...or think it was just OK. I really dug it, though.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Seventh Moon</span> - Ah, it was OK. It's one of those Ghost House pictures (who seem to have patterned themselves at the Eight Movies to Die For franchise). It's about an American couple in China who have to deal with some weird ghosty-demony kind of spirits. It had a few good scenes and interesting visuals. It wasn't great, but compared to Farmhouse it was Citizen Kane and the Magnificent Ambersons COMBINED.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">District 9</span> - One of my favorite movies of the year. Great story, great acting, funny scenes, poignant scenes, and some of the most convincing effects I've seen in quite a while. And as opposed to the heavy-handed Avatar, this allegory doesn't beat you across the head. In fact, you could watch the thing and not necessarily even draw the Apartheid conclusions, because the story carries you along just fine without it. If you haven't seen this, seek it out.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cribbster.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/district-9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 338px;" src="http://cribbster.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/district-9.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Final Destination</span> - The newest in the FD franchise, this one was filmed for 3-D, so it tends to look a little wonky as things come flying toward the screen. But really, what movie has a better rationale for 3-D? I generally have enjoyed the FD movies much more than other formula series like Saw, as the deaths are fairly inventive, and they really manage to maintain a sense of suspense. This one lived up to the rest for the most part, though there were a couple of cheese-o-rama scenes. Good for a night of brainless fun.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/gallery/images/1433/thumbs/poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 214px;" src="http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/gallery/images/1433/thumbs/poster.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Machined</span> - The upside of watching low-low-budget horror films is that you occasionally find a little gem. The downside is stuff like Machined. It's...oh, hell, I dunno...it has something to do with this guy that looks like the titular character from <a href="http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/reviews/otis.jpg">Otis</a>, or maybe Grossberger, and he scrapes a motorcycle accident victim off the pavement and turns him into a killing machine. Well, assuming that your definition of killing machine is a guy in football pads wearing a welding mask. I guess he's supposed to be all cybernetic or somesuch, but no, he appears to just be on the welding squad of the Minnesota Vikings. It was just bad. Oh, so bad. It was "I need to take a shower afterward" bad.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.subs4free.com/moviePicts/MachinedReborn_2009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 379px;" src="http://www.subs4free.com/moviePicts/MachinedReborn_2009.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reborn</span> - This movie is...THE SEQUEL TO MACHINED! I know, I know. "But Troy, if it was that bad, why would you watch the sequel?" Frankly, it's because I'm a completist who also suffers from OCD, and if there's more to a story out there, even a bad one, I generally go looking for it. Yeah, I DO realize how sick I am. Anyway, this one was actually a little better than Machined, but that's like saying being dropped into a vat of acid is slightly better than slowly being killed with a cheese grater (which is a scene from Farmhouse, btw).<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">It's Alive</span> - Blech. A totally awful and unnecessary remakes of Larry Cohen's, well, sort of classic tale of a killer infant. This version was confusing, muddled, goofy, and totally pointless. There was no miracle to this birth, except perhaps that it actually got someone to produce it. I can only wish Margaret Sanger could've gotten to it before I did.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.onlinemoviesfree.net/movie-poster/the-collector-movie-poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 405px; height: 600px;" src="http://www.onlinemoviesfree.net/movie-poster/the-collector-movie-poster.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Collector</span> - Nine tenths of a pretty cool movie. The premise is that you have a burglar who breaks into a house, not knowing that a serial killer is already there, holding the residents hostage while he tortures them. The thief with a heart of gold finds himself in the role of erstwhile hero and has to save the family and himself from the dementoid. Really a nice little bit of suspense...until the end. Arrrrgh! Hey, Hollywood, I realize that many of your denizens are of the cynical, far-too-cool-to-be-upbeat crowd, but you know it's occasionally OK to have an ending that doesn't cry "I'm so nihilistic!" Lighten up; I know what screenwriters make.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wrong Turn 3</span> - As everyone knows, I love cannibalistic hillbilly movies. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. And I dug the first two WT movies, especially the second, with Henry Rollins blowin' stuff up reaaaalll good. But this one made a HUGE mistake: they decided that basically just one crazy, cannibal hillbilly was enough to satisfy we cannibillyophiles. BZZZZZZZZ! Oh, so sorry. No, if I wanted one crazy murderous hillbilly at a time, I'd go see any one of my uncles on visiting day. No, I want as many flesh-eating, mutated jethroes as you can throw at me, please. WT3 is an OK film, I guess, but it was the weakest entry of the series thus far.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Albino Farm</span> - OK, so here's another crazed hillbilly flick. This one has its own creepiness, largely supplied by a guest appearance by wrestling star and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho, who plays a cornfed creepster well. For the sake of truth in advertising, I should mention that there were no actual albinos harmed in the making of this film (the family's NAME is "Albino"; that would've been a tough one to deal with in grade school). Not the best of its kind, but there's a perversity to this one that you have to appreciate.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/10011570/photo_02_hires.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 446px; height: 652px;" src="http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/10011570/photo_02_hires.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Offspring</span> - This one is sort of a switch on the cannibalistic hillbilly deal; rather than atomic Clampetts, this bunch is made up of warpainted savages who look like Sideshow Bob living in caves and kidnapping our menfolk to perpetuate their kind. All in all it's fairly lame. It's a good flick to give the MST3K treatment to, however, especially every time Art Hindle is on screen.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Hills Run Red</span> - Pleasantly surprised here. This fits into that "film within a film" genre that we've seen with things like Midnight Movie, but it makes its own mark, too. There's a fairly twisted angle to it that is quite horrific, and well, since it's a horror movie, that's a good thing!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Repo the Genetic Opera</span> - Damned if I know. I'm guessing this thing will be a cult classic, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. There were a couple of tunes in there that are quite well done and catchy, but much of the music...I don't know...it seemed like it was being made up on the spot. For a movie like this to work, the lyrics have to be ultra-sharp, and for the most part these weren't. Your mileage may vary, though.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://witneyman.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/trick-r-treat-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 300px;" src="http://witneyman.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/trick-r-treat-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Trick 'r' Treat</span> - A nice little anthology piece. It didn't live up to the HUGE hype I'd heard about it, but it was still quite enjoyable. I dig the fact that the vignettes are more closely tied in to each other than the standard anthology (say, Creepshow). Definitely worth watching.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpm-wDF7d8qM95z4HBh9mqrLJfwDXx6WdMyWu5UJKaDvDgCIWkPVja-abVclhha7gFMNDC4urkjsTE0hqhi3qZB4SRkAKIelLBe6FKjSdV0QmrpV0s5qzsrojUlh2Zp0IrrMzOPop3wLsY/s400/EvilBong2PosterA.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 312px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpm-wDF7d8qM95z4HBh9mqrLJfwDXx6WdMyWu5UJKaDvDgCIWkPVja-abVclhha7gFMNDC4urkjsTE0hqhi3qZB4SRkAKIelLBe6FKjSdV0QmrpV0s5qzsrojUlh2Zp0IrrMzOPop3wLsY/s400/EvilBong2PosterA.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Evil Bong 2: King Bong</span> - Yikes. Y'know, I've never minded Charles Band and Full Moon Pictures doing their occasional goonfest, as long as they keep turning out stuff like the Puppet Master films. But these days, with stuff like Gingerdead Man and the Evil Bong films, and none of my beloved puppets to be seen, it's hard to look at this studio, one that I used to follow fervently, as a serious venture. Really, to enjoy this film, you probably need to be enjoying your own evil bong. Thankfully, though, they've announced a couple of new Puppet Master and Demonic Toys projects, none too soon.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saw VI</span> - By all that's holy, GIVE IT UP!!! Tobin Bell died, what, three or four movies ago? And the premise used to be that there was a certain amount of justice in the predicaments the victims found themselves in. But criminy, now Jigsaw is torturing people for having seventeen items in the "15 items or less" lane! I'll keep watching them because of the aforementioned OCD, but cripes, it's getting spread thinner than a woman in a David E. Kelley production.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Black Dynamite</span> - An excellent spoof on blaxploitation films. Unlike something like I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (also a terrific movie), this one really captures the low budget aspects of the source material (right down to purposely having boom mikes in the shot and clunky editing). Very funny, and obviously a labor of love. I want more Black Dynamite!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.traileraddict.com/content/sony-pictures/black_dynamite.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 562px; height: 422px;" src="http://www.traileraddict.com/content/sony-pictures/black_dynamite.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-62217573921052065682010-03-10T11:19:00.000-08:002010-03-10T11:40:58.347-08:00Guess Who I Share A Birthday With Today?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://kelly.postplatinum.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/chuck-norris-cake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://kelly.postplatinum.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/chuck-norris-cake.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://msp213.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/AndxDoxle/birthdays/bdayGojira54.jpg"><br /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-66205954315439832252010-01-30T08:38:00.000-08:002010-01-30T17:18:11.555-08:00MMORPG, the Inexplicable Creature from Planet Spazz!As some of you may know, I recently was asked to do a <span style="font-weight: bold;">City of Heroes</span> arc for their new Guest Author program, and I lovingly crafted a story of Nazis, zombies, robots, werewolves, rock and roll, and cheap plugs for my comics in a little adventure I called "A Little Night Music." Since some of you folks may not be regular CoH players (and dammit, why aren't you?), I thought I'd run some screen shots from the five missions that make up my arc. And if you DO play CoH but haven't played these yet, you might want to wait. Hey, this gives me the chance to say...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">SPOILER WARNING! Woooot! Woooot!</span> </span></span><br /></span><br />I should mention, by the way, that these pics were taken by a number of my fellow CoH forumites, and a swell bunch of eggs they are, including Aliana Blue, Gibson McCoy, Lazarus, Golden Girl, and a few by yours truly. Thank you folks, for all your efforts, and your terrific screenshots. Let's take a look, and bear in mind that most of these can be enlarged by clicking on them.<br /><br /><br />First up is super-strong she-wolf of the SS, and Der Fuhrer's former girlfriend, Evil Brawn.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8uVBMpG2Di0hQh_mwfSBOSOu6laqNUEWtEcT9LYSFsVRsk6werjkk8R1jtXgt7LnlC4hh4BF5gr74EpEXyqxi9J4QJBMvr1xXL_0ObQH5iKS3vHZoKL2evpt1b9hzV5J-fdYn8AwxuFFN/s1600-h/NightMusic31.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8uVBMpG2Di0hQh_mwfSBOSOu6laqNUEWtEcT9LYSFsVRsk6werjkk8R1jtXgt7LnlC4hh4BF5gr74EpEXyqxi9J4QJBMvr1xXL_0ObQH5iKS3vHZoKL2evpt1b9hzV5J-fdYn8AwxuFFN/s320/NightMusic31.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696534885653106" border="0" /></a><br />And here's Brawny getting her giant clock cleaned by Golden Girl.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQ3FVxYq-j4OBz-rj0ikRcaK3EavGelp0322kw1Sh7hcF7VX-wcBe3Ly4NyxO7UH3Y0hN2RvhLTWhR0q4dQ5rhKoGCroatbXSuayppzAz0xvaU6kdu8LGLB-rBVj__HbSyvqM1pBJQ2SU/s1600-h/NightMusic34.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 309px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQ3FVxYq-j4OBz-rj0ikRcaK3EavGelp0322kw1Sh7hcF7VX-wcBe3Ly4NyxO7UH3Y0hN2RvhLTWhR0q4dQ5rhKoGCroatbXSuayppzAz0xvaU6kdu8LGLB-rBVj__HbSyvqM1pBJQ2SU/s320/NightMusic34.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696552294704770" border="0" /></a><br />Here's GG again, taking on the dreaded Greco-Robots.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc02XLMc4gjCAMnaKxTCqf2l8CNvnuEsVRWyzsLmgVD9J2TzYDCVom8BgL72NTlPG469LblCm0NohWUO2Pw3YLfSukzzH6Gw5_Z0FFB1hHh4hl-WelXW-kqdp_QrBi4YpEGQnV0emU_Ig-/s1600-h/NightMusic33.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 243px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc02XLMc4gjCAMnaKxTCqf2l8CNvnuEsVRWyzsLmgVD9J2TzYDCVom8BgL72NTlPG469LblCm0NohWUO2Pw3YLfSukzzH6Gw5_Z0FFB1hHh4hl-WelXW-kqdp_QrBi4YpEGQnV0emU_Ig-/s320/NightMusic33.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696548490822178" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE7CLt6CVeCK3S7EbTvS10ySXNuulOrcextVqrh3xR0naUkpA6UuNOQH7u6uaQynldO536Dpx803BXPD7n5pjJnD987f9pnC7AhwwI3LpQewYqX3YwvGEY7_57hzM3Gqn7SsAevfUZr9M/s1600-h/NightMusic32.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE7CLt6CVeCK3S7EbTvS10ySXNuulOrcextVqrh3xR0naUkpA6UuNOQH7u6uaQynldO536Dpx803BXPD7n5pjJnD987f9pnC7AhwwI3LpQewYqX3YwvGEY7_57hzM3Gqn7SsAevfUZr9M/s320/NightMusic32.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696543518514130" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP28kLuc2gtnHf10hvRaIFO3U_Dz5NJ5U-S9M739LSn3RFZb4j0KSyQtWVqbHwX9S3CciybPI69dzlQpLVOlrJ4bsIP_bTUe3r61nw9_RRdW1g2mMikHr2dAkasd3qzmUDrVcC5SgKXgoF/s1600-h/NightMusic29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP28kLuc2gtnHf10hvRaIFO3U_Dz5NJ5U-S9M739LSn3RFZb4j0KSyQtWVqbHwX9S3CciybPI69dzlQpLVOlrJ4bsIP_bTUe3r61nw9_RRdW1g2mMikHr2dAkasd3qzmUDrVcC5SgKXgoF/s320/NightMusic29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696155199861970" border="0" /></a><br />Here we see a group shot of the Fifth Column doing that voodoo that they do so...well, slimily.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kyJKTvGQh6469usD-HmL2T39YT6c_3VSgM8cMn6OK5D3xDjg8BzqOV0jeFN6VuoCjJKkS4ESJq6IEndlUhZln8RTRAZGaHya4wfGDXVfZnjAGP7PdlCSjH_StNfAbBpRWRnRPJOasNeT/s1600-h/NightMusic30.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kyJKTvGQh6469usD-HmL2T39YT6c_3VSgM8cMn6OK5D3xDjg8BzqOV0jeFN6VuoCjJKkS4ESJq6IEndlUhZln8RTRAZGaHya4wfGDXVfZnjAGP7PdlCSjH_StNfAbBpRWRnRPJOasNeT/s320/NightMusic30.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696527599311410" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The developers were kind enough to join in on some missions with the player base, and here we can see Dr. Aeon and team laying the smackdown.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Vav8zVYK42a9PDQ8WMk8STq22WYif2dneYrOPeAb_OES2dDUoK61DDxgnTJksdW9ZJUnmCi7FjSkvkmOCjsWySMrLDmV3-eL8SQNVX4mb-1yHnkeNPAnvFRe41DpSl0NWOOUrx07xh__/s1600-h/NightMusic28.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Vav8zVYK42a9PDQ8WMk8STq22WYif2dneYrOPeAb_OES2dDUoK61DDxgnTJksdW9ZJUnmCi7FjSkvkmOCjsWySMrLDmV3-eL8SQNVX4mb-1yHnkeNPAnvFRe41DpSl0NWOOUrx07xh__/s320/NightMusic28.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696145391320034" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here's GG once more, taking on those electrical creations of "light-canthropy," the Wolf Blitzers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rrVn6T_q32sZxovlFn5UVr39zVWbVZKvGFnYQivk-1zLoNg6sS28eAVz5ttEpaNznTvC9lf-mfxrGrwaBtOK_4vfBBHpiyKMAOgYrcHfuc-XbvFQzgvv3UZ4rQh47sJY_Y0z93L1tMdi/s1600-h/NightMusic36.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rrVn6T_q32sZxovlFn5UVr39zVWbVZKvGFnYQivk-1zLoNg6sS28eAVz5ttEpaNznTvC9lf-mfxrGrwaBtOK_4vfBBHpiyKMAOgYrcHfuc-XbvFQzgvv3UZ4rQh47sJY_Y0z93L1tMdi/s320/NightMusic36.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696724341384242" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhURZhyphenhyphenuyno6Vtnc-q3Wpju6eJmX5U_uZN0EwaBtDPtGKYW-efI_JvjWC6ekf-qeIeSLz6M2xF8pB6es1fgiUpM_LpwBXQlqCXp9RsKhTauS5YEJVq7brxsys511iSNoK4TggX_02-yjs/s1600-h/NightMusic35.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhURZhyphenhyphenuyno6Vtnc-q3Wpju6eJmX5U_uZN0EwaBtDPtGKYW-efI_JvjWC6ekf-qeIeSLz6M2xF8pB6es1fgiUpM_LpwBXQlqCXp9RsKhTauS5YEJVq7brxsys511iSNoK4TggX_02-yjs/s320/NightMusic35.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696717895497314" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This one shows the rescue of young Jimmy Preston (you may remember him from my issues of the CoH comic book).<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicn6P0ZXY5w5B42XSk-rDdxslE-cmayHHfipqj687a0mhIaKIrsN6fuDRIf6NS8Ogrkgf4wi2KVTB2BA6BJ1ga488kZd3k_P2Vi3nOP_whDslFFfVCHnyL4j8YRi5T1m0mWyMbRJKZANIg/s1600-h/NightMusic20.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicn6P0ZXY5w5B42XSk-rDdxslE-cmayHHfipqj687a0mhIaKIrsN6fuDRIf6NS8Ogrkgf4wi2KVTB2BA6BJ1ga488kZd3k_P2Vi3nOP_whDslFFfVCHnyL4j8YRi5T1m0mWyMbRJKZANIg/s320/NightMusic20.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432695671151281826" border="0" /></a><br />These creepy SOBS are zombie gourmets known as the Bone Appetits.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-iykm3GuYaB-6xZzwOEBvar3lzfAuc1x9kx6MMNi8a-VbhuoUqyVPaGHZw80EwNiHrmv1VwrShxjnQPUcKRul2WHnFGPLBH7PqhWn56c8wpRsFU9yD6eKqXdfqIGDP80zhTTFZwcQFA3/s1600-h/NightMusic25.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-iykm3GuYaB-6xZzwOEBvar3lzfAuc1x9kx6MMNi8a-VbhuoUqyVPaGHZw80EwNiHrmv1VwrShxjnQPUcKRul2WHnFGPLBH7PqhWn56c8wpRsFU9yD6eKqXdfqIGDP80zhTTFZwcQFA3/s320/NightMusic25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696135752291218" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUtsTE64tzOLxeuet91Yunc_924WDRlTCkZmJa6syqixXJYTiTXldgGfWxTVi3HlS-bUhyphenhyphenyKZyGar84j2Op-MLEhnA7r0hplMWDjsgEQhcCAKdNT9sRJy3k_PgwLJibFU3_wGnVykHRso/s1600-h/NightMusic26.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUtsTE64tzOLxeuet91Yunc_924WDRlTCkZmJa6syqixXJYTiTXldgGfWxTVi3HlS-bUhyphenhyphenyKZyGar84j2Op-MLEhnA7r0hplMWDjsgEQhcCAKdNT9sRJy3k_PgwLJibFU3_wGnVykHRso/s320/NightMusic26.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696142476720098" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYotzmIe_0BjT8bwsiTA6OVhAUwCxVuLNFUtgpZWKd99EQTLERHoaY4VxdS4ukCbDQ7RX7SbP99FCkkfxc5cGKhCbeB0t2DY1ghyXjv2nXA6pVHlVNFjJsIz6ttSYzpP7MC4m_kWZIs6QM/s1600-h/NightMusic24.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 106px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYotzmIe_0BjT8bwsiTA6OVhAUwCxVuLNFUtgpZWKd99EQTLERHoaY4VxdS4ukCbDQ7RX7SbP99FCkkfxc5cGKhCbeB0t2DY1ghyXjv2nXA6pVHlVNFjJsIz6ttSYzpP7MC4m_kWZIs6QM/s320/NightMusic24.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432696131743550978" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And here's the undead ayatollah of rock and rolla, Bloody Holly.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNEyrQn6szdQlCc_M8EF614AZMIZEcgW8RgbW5BikKQqwFooio2YIAlKcOj3z7iSvacGe9fZfKBbMK_VPGoGRyyHN7x_KKWeIh5IsmgILy3EFUQMyZk8lpCwS5BzTKDKuXxWXZricRiKe/s1600-h/NightMusic14.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 232px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNEyrQn6szdQlCc_M8EF614AZMIZEcgW8RgbW5BikKQqwFooio2YIAlKcOj3z7iSvacGe9fZfKBbMK_VPGoGRyyHN7x_KKWeIh5IsmgILy3EFUQMyZk8lpCwS5BzTKDKuXxWXZricRiKe/s320/NightMusic14.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432695654742704018" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Zlc7-ays5LzDJNEfAw4JPstk0ao5SLaEbdnicg2f6WBlLZqIrApQ39A4qNKYe1TGVWpXskMpyPV1__0xmShmeHrWZPHEb_Ds7QpZZi3WVTLPoVWMa5Ok64vM6CAZLnVpwuR8O7_IopqB/s1600-h/NightMusic13.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 313px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Zlc7-ays5LzDJNEfAw4JPstk0ao5SLaEbdnicg2f6WBlLZqIrApQ39A4qNKYe1TGVWpXskMpyPV1__0xmShmeHrWZPHEb_Ds7QpZZi3WVTLPoVWMa5Ok64vM6CAZLnVpwuR8O7_IopqB/s320/NightMusic13.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432695155253871250" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The next couple here are shots of Bloody's minions, the lethal Fright Attendants, and the fearful atomic powered Boooo Rad-leys.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYspOSHowDDGWA0N56f1ZfdbXS2iS_b2gfasUIHJxd_ynvwMUG0JURqAMQDgouDjBYC-RNTMZIRmYY5z_8DnQS5bMJF764UnNAKPRORAKr6AK3-iBWqZFnRabQ79D0HAAKPsh15Gqfx3uz/s1600-h/NightMusic11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYspOSHowDDGWA0N56f1ZfdbXS2iS_b2gfasUIHJxd_ynvwMUG0JURqAMQDgouDjBYC-RNTMZIRmYY5z_8DnQS5bMJF764UnNAKPRORAKr6AK3-iBWqZFnRabQ79D0HAAKPsh15Gqfx3uz/s320/NightMusic11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432695146237621282" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mppr2tvkJvWxHoMF4KaO8spujT6h3p3najlzvsiB3sgK38V1Qs-agDOjXzosG2I8odwXxWUdfnMO0kfRuUxho_GXw3P0lIE52ohDe1dKUJR4jqjroXlWIUjfceG4u_QekvdFhwYREYm6/s1600-h/NightMusic8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mppr2tvkJvWxHoMF4KaO8spujT6h3p3najlzvsiB3sgK38V1Qs-agDOjXzosG2I8odwXxWUdfnMO0kfRuUxho_GXw3P0lIE52ohDe1dKUJR4jqjroXlWIUjfceG4u_QekvdFhwYREYm6/s320/NightMusic8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432694380091504226" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Now a few more shots of the Greco-Robots. Man, I didn't realize how intimidating a big group of these things would be when they're comin' at ya!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBCFlKagiqOn51yALtbs1zuS0Ner1N09_MUXYukPhkFhoJpuCoDefY-dt_aho8RZygLK8wFxO70E9HyRuPHHfwfyOW3JpHJ9q43qe-QQTWQz7RQSeEw69qdlMZ6mqOIpwYY2E6DDgKHmU/s1600-h/NightMusic6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBCFlKagiqOn51yALtbs1zuS0Ner1N09_MUXYukPhkFhoJpuCoDefY-dt_aho8RZygLK8wFxO70E9HyRuPHHfwfyOW3JpHJ9q43qe-QQTWQz7RQSeEw69qdlMZ6mqOIpwYY2E6DDgKHmU/s320/NightMusic6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432694377855620914" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MOv3ASR3Z7NxgEKKdywqQC2hBTi0518fPUhdAXpm5iqNNgi8uomd0MUIfSN5yCx-MFYGd85CiRcMugoNnuDpZbyU6rRQvGZgzhyz0f1SBtjlePQ_YdevnrrruKmehByLSkmLZK98d0h2/s1600-h/NightMusic5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MOv3ASR3Z7NxgEKKdywqQC2hBTi0518fPUhdAXpm5iqNNgi8uomd0MUIfSN5yCx-MFYGd85CiRcMugoNnuDpZbyU6rRQvGZgzhyz0f1SBtjlePQ_YdevnrrruKmehByLSkmLZK98d0h2/s320/NightMusic5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432694374213310834" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyLUnlT7ayyQ_KSVwBHYnCHmuCtmaEQoALH8TraQJNFn07FY_-yC-yZ23gQZalm4E-0shWUdAzy-lVVEhSKCK2fwup6RlQD9M75CFZwlzPfGZ0U34Ivy4MggggB2NfJlMZDv84zlS-lZMC/s1600-h/NightMusic4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 123px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyLUnlT7ayyQ_KSVwBHYnCHmuCtmaEQoALH8TraQJNFn07FY_-yC-yZ23gQZalm4E-0shWUdAzy-lVVEhSKCK2fwup6RlQD9M75CFZwlzPfGZ0U34Ivy4MggggB2NfJlMZDv84zlS-lZMC/s320/NightMusic4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432694366133555026" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcqpHMILqv0o4EEy0Xev5ChM6fXGbyJ_MEE8pOVGzWJbLzf_H5GbxpEo5fg4Q2ry6dA0KqozhlEJspbNxdh1ETqi6suTxqb6Revd2N733KxNZaFLv7QL7CfflFmiOZJSOGadQNnHuIkgh/s1600-h/NightMusic2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcqpHMILqv0o4EEy0Xev5ChM6fXGbyJ_MEE8pOVGzWJbLzf_H5GbxpEo5fg4Q2ry6dA0KqozhlEJspbNxdh1ETqi6suTxqb6Revd2N733KxNZaFLv7QL7CfflFmiOZJSOGadQNnHuIkgh/s320/NightMusic2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432694360965964786" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Next up is the corpse-raising Li'l Dead Riding Hood and her "pets."<br /><div><br /><br /><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPd4SxoccIIB1KKiGcREXs1ScYgstSDin0rdwTy-md83bvEKIFoJ04Ps7FPBYGVmy9eN8BiImT6Y8ZMpB3jbclPNuGX4IO95Z6R6yT_dtJpWpt-xo_Jd_kq0fyBBflOEVWnXij0o41RhdT/s1600-h/Lilred2.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432574052823059346" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; height: 332px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPd4SxoccIIB1KKiGcREXs1ScYgstSDin0rdwTy-md83bvEKIFoJ04Ps7FPBYGVmy9eN8BiImT6Y8ZMpB3jbclPNuGX4IO95Z6R6yT_dtJpWpt-xo_Jd_kq0fyBBflOEVWnXij0o41RhdT/s400/Lilred2.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Next is the scariest torch singer of all, Caba-Rage, both before and after she activates her power.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLbUmiCbu49p1NBcVRiYrdvcTAycHjYD4RfPezPeENkNTHL8GgmDsPCtc6ccNrjbnIs9zzVQC-ZjYB5Bx4pg22QXbBwiXI8B5sS_lW4wg2047dkiBpax3HI21aMKrQvkLN17PLo7BEDo6/s1600-h/Caba3.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432573853806800898" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 206px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLbUmiCbu49p1NBcVRiYrdvcTAycHjYD4RfPezPeENkNTHL8GgmDsPCtc6ccNrjbnIs9zzVQC-ZjYB5Bx4pg22QXbBwiXI8B5sS_lW4wg2047dkiBpax3HI21aMKrQvkLN17PLo7BEDo6/s400/Caba3.bmp" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv18NVw6PIew6IGV5zJZtvFrbw6Pku3AlN84y1WSFUrwbviXe06MDVs5hxwBDVpBit9-v0H1vKAnWskmZx24SCb9gqxoHMmF-TvoTf0TRyvvQ_rh64TghB0dC04uIuaAaEKpmu7Ec1NjFq/s1600-h/Caba4.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432573956898467346" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 296px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv18NVw6PIew6IGV5zJZtvFrbw6Pku3AlN84y1WSFUrwbviXe06MDVs5hxwBDVpBit9-v0H1vKAnWskmZx24SCb9gqxoHMmF-TvoTf0TRyvvQ_rh64TghB0dC04uIuaAaEKpmu7Ec1NjFq/s400/Caba4.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Finally, the archvillain of the piece, the legendary Nachtmusik, seen here with his "liebchen," and using his dream powers.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin4ac5hJqr0NZLKGDg8X_RwoWD0RLHWopQF7Ik1-NG2yQrDdcrIl13LRDvMsMp3RPRms0WhCcm-0lscOJn3js64uGrswSZ7vy1l_RgVK-5psLkdehMBD00eSGnfj8MK5re_UEKe8YP2TYO/s1600-h/Nacht4.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432574146554938866" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 361px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin4ac5hJqr0NZLKGDg8X_RwoWD0RLHWopQF7Ik1-NG2yQrDdcrIl13LRDvMsMp3RPRms0WhCcm-0lscOJn3js64uGrswSZ7vy1l_RgVK-5psLkdehMBD00eSGnfj8MK5re_UEKe8YP2TYO/s400/Nacht4.bmp" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEZIZ6rG38X9vk2PfLTa7Im6Lyrv7x-ZfakO01E333i9RsTXAjE-w0OkFby6GOiZDcqsYGZh7v-E7ac-03L4VLzl_CrNSJ3zx5HYau3OjMXJ23o4K2TwraqLTXUm3lFORGUTpakFB2GPM/s1600-h/Nacht5.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432574212228073154" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 383px; height: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEZIZ6rG38X9vk2PfLTa7Im6Lyrv7x-ZfakO01E333i9RsTXAjE-w0OkFby6GOiZDcqsYGZh7v-E7ac-03L4VLzl_CrNSJ3zx5HYau3OjMXJ23o4K2TwraqLTXUm3lFORGUTpakFB2GPM/s400/Nacht5.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Anyway, that might give you a slight taste of what the story feels like, but if you get a chance (and CoH offers a FREE 14-day trial if you'd like to give it a try), check it out. I think you'll dig it. I sure had a blast making it. And my characters are animated! How cool is that???<br /><br />Man, I'm such a fanboy.<br /><br />And proud of it...<br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-35387093496268594772009-12-24T20:34:00.000-08:002009-12-24T20:37:39.149-08:00Merry Christmas!I leave for Vancouver in about 36 hours, but I wanted to wish all you good folks a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/190/1193825759_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/190/1193825759_1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-15207140958740016012009-10-29T15:32:00.000-07:002011-02-12T20:41:11.603-08:00What We Got Here is...Failure to Communicate<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2010/12/failure-to-communicate.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 368px;" src="http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2010/12/failure-to-communicate.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>When it's time for my classes to write a critique paper, we usually watch a movie and write a review. This semester, we watched the Paul Newman classic, Cool Hand Luke. Here are a selection of the comments I received:<br /><div><div><br /><div>"I guess it was OK for a movie that old. It wasn't a classic, though, like <strong>Fight Club</strong>."<br /></div><div><br />"I never realized Paul Newman was an actor before he made salad dressing."<br /></div><div><br /></div>"That was just stupid! If Luke had just followed the rules, he would have been fine."<br /><div><br /></div>"I suppose it was the best they could do with movies back in the 40s" (it was made in 1967, btw)<br /><div><br />"I liked it all right, but I would have preferred something cute like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Miss Congeniality</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">Legally Blonde</span>" (never fails)</div><br /><div>"The lead character is a man named John" (yeah, the title is just a red herring, I guess)<br /></div><div> </div><br /><div>"I wonder if Luke did a lot of farting after those fifty eggs"<br /><br /><div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://s11.allstarpics.net/images/orig/6/l/6lyk9us2cjtqqt2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 352px; height: 500px;" src="http://s11.allstarpics.net/images/orig/6/l/6lyk9us2cjtqqt2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> </div><a href="http://warezgator.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/lock-up_1.jpg"><br /></a></div><div>"I give it a seven. I would have given it more, but the special effects were terrible." (???)<br /><br /></div>"I mainly like vampires, but it wasn't too bad."<br /><br />"If they hadn't killed him at the end, they could have done a sequel."<br /><div><br />"It's not that I don't like prison movies. But I like ones like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lockup</span>."</div><br /><div> </div>"I was expecting more gay prison sex, but we got lucky."<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://s11.allstarpics.net/images/orig/6/l/6lyk9us2cjtqqt2.jpg"></a><div> </div><br /><div>"If Paul Newman made this kind of movie, I can't say I'm upset he died."</div><br /><div> </div>"Not enough action" (this was written eleven times)<br /><br />"The movie we watch was Cold Hand Luke."<br /><br />"It would make a lousy video game."<br /><br /><br /><div> </div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div></div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-1113559662150090022009-10-24T09:25:00.001-07:002009-10-24T09:26:51.569-07:00Godspeed, SoupyI've never laughed so hard as I did at this man.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3fjj1MnY_eM&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3fjj1MnY_eM&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-17986398655587266972009-09-22T15:48:00.000-07:002009-09-22T16:41:37.189-07:00Saying Stuff As It Hits Me (for the love of Zod, don't say "semi"!!!)* Is it just me, or do you ever stop yourself as you're leaving the house to make sure you've put on pants? That sounds silly, of course, but given some of the truly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">dumb-ass</span> things I've done in my life, it's NOT entirely impossible, so every once in a while I find myself looking down to make sure my "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">li'l</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hickman</span>" is not exposed (well, assuming that my gut would allow me to see it anyway).<br /><div><div><div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-vApb0bOpbQIXLV32KqXUSKd4T2lWOk3IHusctYv67cxld6z8puSz-Kv4bZ0M2Gd0uQhHIEIzQjOujhwHUI4Mc3R5whhUd2SPLVaDz1smT4Xo0aeq1KgoCDDjxiQLbQ0Y-fu55YMnYPzs/s1600-h/Fermi_stamp-large.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384439303429755682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-vApb0bOpbQIXLV32KqXUSKd4T2lWOk3IHusctYv67cxld6z8puSz-Kv4bZ0M2Gd0uQhHIEIzQjOujhwHUI4Mc3R5whhUd2SPLVaDz1smT4Xo0aeq1KgoCDDjxiQLbQ0Y-fu55YMnYPzs/s200/Fermi_stamp-large.jpg" border="0" /></a>I remember one of my students saying to me "you know more than any human being I've ever met." I was beaming over that one, let me tell you. Yeah, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">dat's</span> right, I'm <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">da</span> man. Wheel yourself outta my way, Stephen Hawking. Then, all of five minutes later, I went to the men's room, and when I tried to walk out, I found that I couldn't get the door open. I panicked for a second, until I realized that I was pushing on the side with the hinges.</div><br /><div>Yeah, I'm Enrico <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">freakin</span>' Fermi...</div><div> </div><div> </div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg7EcigaIDFRKojNfcGdBaBPcpCJGAcFzh_e3uH3Bpj8ZAhcQUEZRCVhH4N7szjsL79tmyYIeUILC-Qy__kb2k_9PnhkWW7MpK7hV4AdRWrAvsgH_VyfTUrn_XXjOdR1NIMLQxWw2I1LLC/s1600-h/AcidicJew.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384439531795741170" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg7EcigaIDFRKojNfcGdBaBPcpCJGAcFzh_e3uH3Bpj8ZAhcQUEZRCVhH4N7szjsL79tmyYIeUILC-Qy__kb2k_9PnhkWW7MpK7hV4AdRWrAvsgH_VyfTUrn_XXjOdR1NIMLQxWw2I1LLC/s200/AcidicJew.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>* I'm working on a City of Heroes project that I can't talk about yet (I'll let ya know). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Y'know</span>, I have probably 120 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">CoH</span> player-characters now, and only one (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Nitewolf</span>) has made it to level 50. Most are stuck in the 22-32 range. It occurs to me that probably 80% of them have puns for names, which sounds gimmicky, but I've found that both in the game, and in my comic writing, that such a method works well for me. They start off being goofy puns, but then it comes together when I try to flesh them out. I wonder if I took a character with a standard superhero name, say Captain Lightning or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Darkbolt</span> or something, and tried to do the same if it would work. Hard to say, and it'll probably never happen, as I'm much more likely to do Bananas <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Froster</span> or Shock Cousteau.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>* I think I'm supposed to dog-sit a little pug here in a day or two (if so, there will be pics). I would so dearly love to have a dog, and we're allowed to have 'em at our apartment building now. Unfortunately, while I could afford the $25 or whatever they add on to your rent for a dog, if anything ever happened to the little guy, health-wise, I couldn't afford to get him any treatment. So I'll just have to be happy with our two little turtles, Eastman and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Fichtner</span>, for the time being. Eastman is named after <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">TMNT</span> creator Kevin, obviously, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Fichtner</span> is named after William "Mr. Pointy Face" <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Fichtner</span>, whom he resembles.</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoq7-v8L2m431j2XNgsDEw4f7hvHAQKcHpCD8ojm1kaD_piN8PRgkoE-VV6m8tVB93Xk7oYj-rqiIATbly6-M2x4uEZmoRUhHSczSF5aIpHs2vcBFDhE6bAvwVst4pxvtlYpwF5tFy69HY/s1600-h/Mahone-william-fichtner-240722_1024_768.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384435818162977538" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoq7-v8L2m431j2XNgsDEw4f7hvHAQKcHpCD8ojm1kaD_piN8PRgkoE-VV6m8tVB93Xk7oYj-rqiIATbly6-M2x4uEZmoRUhHSczSF5aIpHs2vcBFDhE6bAvwVst4pxvtlYpwF5tFy69HY/s200/Mahone-william-fichtner-240722_1024_768.jpg" border="0" /></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384436038893497394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5vglq0HqMa82ZnrlpWRiANqdEPp9VALHXnn5HNuNJwQGd_XuGAxGLC5Vb0lPYXM4n6jcdNYJAr1SdaFHunRUm-vPAYwItj4kGdrL4qiFpJrPecVQhWqDJXGnAJmrIFRn51aMXGyQIO68/s200/019.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><div>* The other day the Dairy Queen close to my place had a deal where certain items were 50% off. I normally don't go to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">DQ</span>, as the food is too expensive and REALLY is not the kind of stuff I should have on this diet. But the half-off deal was too tempting for a cheapskate like me, so I went through the drive-through while I was out and got myself an order of chicken strips, figuring that wouldn't be too bad.</div><br /><div>I had to do some grocery shopping, so I pulled into the Pay-Less parking lot and decided to eat my chicken before going inside. I grabbed one of the little batter-dipped hunks of white meat and settled in for my "splurge."<br /></div><div>But...it was...too gooey inside and...chewy...and...oh...my...god.</div><br /><div>I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">suddenly</span> realized what I was holding in my hand was a breaded hunk of completely, absolutely, totally RAW chicken. Not undercooked, not slightly cooked, not even warm inside. Raw, pink, cold chicken meat.</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJLRvaIGmRmn1IByV0l_qbOEFk1l8tTtjyDklkZCSZDxp-kXwECBRDslrbJ8P2siXJyPwh-AZSPWJ5sV-ebr82WvzDM8Di6SoNR0xMyPqtjCksCd5rGOXJmQ2uQ7VSsFO6ACjAhgnvU2z/s1600-h/raw_chicken_breast4804.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384439059427296066" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 159px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJLRvaIGmRmn1IByV0l_qbOEFk1l8tTtjyDklkZCSZDxp-kXwECBRDslrbJ8P2siXJyPwh-AZSPWJ5sV-ebr82WvzDM8Di6SoNR0xMyPqtjCksCd5rGOXJmQ2uQ7VSsFO6ACjAhgnvU2z/s200/raw_chicken_breast4804.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I spit it out and drove back to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">DQ</span>, where I presented it to the manager.<br /></div><div>"Look," I said, "I'm not the kind of guy who complains over little things, and if this were just slightly undercooked, hey, no big deal. But this bastard is still CLUCKING."</div><br /><div>He let out an "OH MY GOD" and immediately got me a replacement, and thankfully this one didn't have salmonella as a dipping sauce.</div><br /><div>I'm sure Dairy Queen is a fine establishment in general, but I'd advise against the chicken tartar.</div></div></div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-53605239520090999192009-09-15T15:47:00.001-07:002009-09-15T22:24:30.518-07:00I, Troy Hickman, Will Hereafter Stop Doing Stuff!So the other day I check my AOL mail to find a message that says "Troy Hickman has sent you a letter on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Myspace</span>."<br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Wha</span>---? Oh, I figure, probably some new <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">phishing</span> scam or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">somesuch</span>. So just to be sure, I log on to my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">MySpace</span> page to find...a letter from Troy Hickman.</div><br /><div>Specifically, it's a letter entitled "My Name is also Troy Hickman," and it said this:<br /></div><br /><div><span style="font-weight: bold;">"i would appreciate it if you quit doing stuff when i tell girls about me they google MY name and get you which is weird so stop it or add a side note that your not the TROY HICKMAN"</span><br /><br />As it turns out, this was sent by a young man in Oklahoma who has found that being Troy Hickman is not the beer and skittles he imagined it being.</div><br /><div>So what am I to do? Should I simply stop "doing stuff"? I mean, I'm practically a sloth now; I'm not sure I can become even more lethargic. Maybe I could stop doing things for an hour or two a day, just enough time for young Mr. Hickman to score with some chicks?<br /><br /></div>More importantly, how does one become "the TROY HICKMAN," and how did I miss out on that honor? Was it a problem with the paperwork? It wouldn't be the first time <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">bureaucracy</span> has bitten me on the ass.<br /><br /><div> </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRESQ9k1FRc4Yh47GrffXNJNNJ1krn9A8USkyfrs9cCvvmMOSZrcMKgw6ZWhGzzBsHzbSvPScCXCr_Wz_g6BPYAlHOHQbvzi66nuOXd4o0Ih2UQ9_GtSkVAWh-nFcwmKCAapA6jPkVFSaE/s1600-h/cg1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRESQ9k1FRc4Yh47GrffXNJNNJ1krn9A8USkyfrs9cCvvmMOSZrcMKgw6ZWhGzzBsHzbSvPScCXCr_Wz_g6BPYAlHOHQbvzi66nuOXd4o0Ih2UQ9_GtSkVAWh-nFcwmKCAapA6jPkVFSaE/s400/cg1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381858995978827074" border="0" /></a><div>If you google my name (at least, I THINK it's my name), you'll get something like 74,000 hits. As best I can tell, probably 90% of them have to do with me. Or at least, the ME that writes comics, teaches college English, and is typing these words now.<br /></div><br /><div>Doesn't that, by sheer weight of numbers, if not by the sheer weight of my buttocks, make me THE Troy Hickman? Or is it an honorary appointment of some kind? Does this nation now have a "Troy Hickman czar"???<br /></div><br /><div>Well, anyway, the least I can do for this poor kid is to point out to all you young ladies who are pondering whether to favor him with your charms that I AM NOT HIM! I'm sure he's everything I'm not (which would mean he's a water-breathing albino lesbian, but I digress), so give the guy a booty call and keep him off <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">MySpace</span>, will ya?<br /></div><br /><div>While I'm at it, here are a handful of other people I'm not:</div><br /><div><br /><a href="http://www.haysusa.com/assets/images/thickman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 120px; height: 120px;" alt="" src="http://www.haysusa.com/assets/images/thickman.jpg" border="0" /></a> I'm NOT <span style="font-style: italic;">this</span> Troy Hickman. I've mentioned him before. He's the former mayor of Hayes, Kansas, and I think now he's on their city council (they demoted you, did they, Troy?). He looks like a straight shooter. Chances are HE would deny that he's me, too.</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div>I'm NOT the Troy Hickman that also lives here in Lafayette. He's no relation to me, but I met him one time out at the Putt Putt course where my son worked. It turns out THAT Troy Hickman is a miniature golfing whiz (I could never do that, as the odds of me not snickering when someone mentioned "balls" and "stroke" in the same sentence are slim and none). The golfing Troy seemed like a decent enough guy. I get his phone calls sometimes, and I like to think he's gotten my offers from major comic book companies.<br /><br /></div><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 648px; height: 486px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://www.roadsidenut.com/putt1033.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wrmea.com/images/May-June_2007/hughes_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 208px;" src="http://www.wrmea.com/images/May-June_2007/hughes_01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div> I'm NOT the Troy Hickman that used to be the first entry you got when you googled the name. THAT Troy Hickman was a convict, also here in Indiana, in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Terre</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Haute</span>, looking for gay <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">cybersex</span>. You can imagine how glad I was when he ceased being Troy Hickman <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">numero</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">uno</span> on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">internet</span>. I always wondered about that guy, though. What the hell was his deal? I'd like to think all us Troy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Hickmans</span> are winners, but <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">criminy</span>, what kind of a guy has to go online looking for gay sex when HE'S IN PRISON??? Talk about coals to Newcastle...<br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.decklinsdomain.org/images/rpw0786915749.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 296px; height: 496px;" alt="" src="http://www.decklinsdomain.org/images/rpw0786915749.jpg" border="0" /></a>I'm NOT Tracy Hickman. The fact that we're both writers and we both work in the fantasy field occasionally confuses people. The fact is that Tracy Hickman makes more money in a month than I've made in my entire life, and that includes the year I picked up extra cash from selling my blood plasma. I don't know Margaret <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Weis</span>, I've never worked with Margaret <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Weis</span>, and frankly, if I ever even tried to get Margaret <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Weis</span>' autograph at a signing, I'm pretty sure she'd have the security guards treat me like a king...Rodney King.</div><br /><div> </div></div><br /><div>I'm NOT much more famous and successful comic writer Jonathan Hickman. He seems like a very nice guy, and he's got more talent than everyone David <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Hasselhoff</span> has ever judged COMBINED, but we're no kin. I kind of feel like a professional wrestling jobber having a match with Ric Flair when people mention us in the same breath, though; it can only give ME a positive rub, while it doesn't do a damned thing for him. Maybe I should get him a fruit basket to make up for it.</div><br /><div><a href="http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/C111603.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 300px; height: 456px;" alt="" src="http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/C111603.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/C111603.jpg"></a> </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>I'm NOT talented comic artist Jessica Hickman. Frankly, I cannot draw a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">purty</span> pitcher to save my life (well, maybe to save my life...I mean...<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">geez</span>!). I've tried to draw since I was a little kid, but there's just something in my brain that doesn't click. I can design a pretty spiffy superhero costume, and I think I have a good sense of how a comic page should look IN MY HEAD, but when it comes to making my hand move in such a way that it creates something resembling realism, it's never gonna happen. I will NOT show you any of my artwork here.<img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 500px; height: 782px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://grantgould.com/art/woo/pinups/jessica_hickman_pinup.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />I am NOT singer/songwriter/philanthropist Sara Hickman. I've got a decent singing voice, but most every song I've ever written is a parody, and as far as doing good works, the last charitable act I committed was not printing any of my artwork here, as mentioned in the paragraph above.</div><a href="http://www.pisymbol.com/images/dobie_and_the_thinker.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 157px; height: 207px;" alt="" src="http://www.pisymbol.com/images/dobie_and_the_thinker.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>I am NOT <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">TV's</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Dobie</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Gillis</span>, Dwayne Hickman. I have read his autobiography, though, and it was a page-turner.</div><br /><br /><div>I am NOT Gene <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Hackman</span>. The only French connection I've ever been a part of was when I nearly beat to death a street mime named "Pierre."</div><br /><br /><div>Anyway, Troy Hickman of Oklahoma, I hope this helps you get laid. If not, there's a guy in prison in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Terre</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Haute</span> who might be able to help you out...</div><br />(A big thanks to Veazey for the idea)<br /><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-31495762973729817712009-09-10T10:28:00.001-07:002009-09-10T10:31:14.158-07:00Quick Question<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.toonopedia.com/question.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 357px;" src="http://www.toonopedia.com/question.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Hey, I notice my counter down there went from 33K hits to 11K yesterday. Anyone know what would cause that? More importantly, anyone know what I can do about it?<br /><br />Harumph, harumph.<br /><br />Hey, I didn't get a "harumph" out of that guy!Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-45774543733357929542009-09-06T17:59:00.000-07:002009-09-07T07:13:05.872-07:00Film, and Not the Kind On PuddingLea and I watched some flicks while I was in Vancouver. Time for some quick reviews!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.horrorfestonline.com/archive/2006/images/dvd1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 286px;" src="http://www.horrorfestonline.com/archive/2006/images/dvd1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Unrest</span> - Plot: I have no idea. There are pathology students cutting up cadavers and people dying by supernatural means, but that's about all I could make of it. It was one of those damned movies that are far too awful to enjoy, but not quite awful enough on an EPIC level so that you can love its...uh...awfultosity. It was 88 minutes of my life that was not useful in any way, and that's one thing for which I CANNOT forgive a film. One star out of five.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Autopsy</span> - Wow. This one made Unrest look like The Exorcist. It stars Robert "Liquid Metal" Patrick, and I have to tell ya, I really feel sorry for the guy. He's a talented actor, but it just seems like he's never gotten the break he deserves. For every Terminator 2 or last couple seasons of the X-Files, he'll do five movies like Autopsy, and I think it's hurt his career a bit. Anyway, this is just a goonfest, and not in a good way (that is, John Gulager makes total goonfests, and I love 'em!). This is one ALMOST bad enough to be good enough to watch, though. You might check it out and make your own call (for some reason, it gets five out of ten stars on the IMDB and some of the folks there really dig it. Go figure). I give it half a star myself.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Cottage</span> - OK, now this is more like it. In the tradition of stuff like From Dusk Til Dawn (as well as things I've reviewed here like Malevolence), this starts out as a comedic crime flick about kidnappers, gangsters, hitmen, etc., but eventually turns into a crazed farmer slasher fiasco!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.jaman.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/cottagepic2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://blog.jaman.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/cottagepic2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Really enjoyable stuff, with interesting characters, great dialog, and terrific performances by Andy Serkis, Reece Shearsmith and others. It's one of those great blends of goofy humor and horror that are rarely done well (outside of Sam Raimi), but it sure works here. Check it out. I give it four stars.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2007/02/22/zoo-poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 590px;" src="http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2007/02/22/zoo-poster.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Zoo</span> - Whoa. Uh, how do I describe this. It's a documentary, basically, about bestiality. Specifically it's about Kenneth "Mr. Hands" Pinyan, the Boeing engineer from Washington state who died in 2005 as a result of being...uh..."loved" by a stallion. It's also about the subculture of his friends and peers (called "zoos"), and their relationships with animals. Gang, it's a very troubling subject, but I have to say it's the damnedest movie I've seen in a long time. They handle the material in a straightforward way, recreating the events in some instances (but with nothing really graphic on-screen), and it's beautifully shot and edited. Don't watch it with young kids, and maybe not your parents (I had to sit through Lea describing it in great detail to her mom; the dictionary definition of "uncomfortable"). But watch it. Five squirming stars.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Mega-Shark vs. Giant Octopus</span> - OK, I didn't watch this with Lea, but I had to mention it. OH.MY.ZOD. Watch it. Watch it! It's got Lorenzo "Snake-Eater" Lamas, and an octopus knocking fighter planes out of the sky, and Deborah "Don't Call Me Debbie" Gibson, and a shark biting the Golden Gate Bridge in half, and sudden nerdy Asian love, and 3-D shots in a film that lost its 3-D budget, and...and...watch it! "Deborah" has hinted at a sequel, and I can't wait. The entire state of Wisconsin couldn't make this much cheesy goodness. Zero stars for quality, but five for enjoyment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://directorscat.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mega-shark-vs-giant-octopus-560x345.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 560px; height: 345px;" src="http://directorscat.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/mega-shark-vs-giant-octopus-560x345.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-47102704497622864132009-08-26T11:46:00.000-07:002009-08-26T11:56:17.504-07:00American PiHere are those American Pi pages I mentioned in my previous post. Please read it before you peruse these (and I think you can click to enlarge 'em).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-djZYnhB41QEQW06c3N6dt6dbz-RibkzHa-ZtNwdue45wsRBWTtbyw_tmRlmr37t09XLcrHNmIjeSPY-xV7X6WSAtiEdRYQhNoetLdH_pdfQm95vSET3OW0_2VjOjMDARZ19VwMUojwje/s1600-h/Pi1_0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-djZYnhB41QEQW06c3N6dt6dbz-RibkzHa-ZtNwdue45wsRBWTtbyw_tmRlmr37t09XLcrHNmIjeSPY-xV7X6WSAtiEdRYQhNoetLdH_pdfQm95vSET3OW0_2VjOjMDARZ19VwMUojwje/s400/Pi1_0001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374347547524623842" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzUVOVKqQRdQOnzitDR51M7YkvBgWHUy-U3ig3vSVG1b2HJNQvipVs7hOgW8ubLJugKyRa9Waq9_02GLUg23mTrCiNqWsbefzRHuKFqSK87BIDfsBNCdam3n_lg9pepjyQRGj9EwaGZAg/s1600-h/Pi3_0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzUVOVKqQRdQOnzitDR51M7YkvBgWHUy-U3ig3vSVG1b2HJNQvipVs7hOgW8ubLJugKyRa9Waq9_02GLUg23mTrCiNqWsbefzRHuKFqSK87BIDfsBNCdam3n_lg9pepjyQRGj9EwaGZAg/s400/Pi3_0001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374347160123522578" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPKE2MaB2y2I6D2yRgHv9A8pxGuj0Aoq2fl6EBT0oMFEnjPnkK3d7on2HE988EyMYmh3XYJJ8PzWxM7MGLRHQ-1Iav5SCQS-nNdkbvrAb7CJWiyiiTds5j3cEVLVGbtqg5xZbJVG1KpCAZ/s1600-h/Pi5_0002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPKE2MaB2y2I6D2yRgHv9A8pxGuj0Aoq2fl6EBT0oMFEnjPnkK3d7on2HE988EyMYmh3XYJJ8PzWxM7MGLRHQ-1Iav5SCQS-nNdkbvrAb7CJWiyiiTds5j3cEVLVGbtqg5xZbJVG1KpCAZ/s400/Pi5_0002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374346988926932722" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTJVfxHZYGhZhttid8gSh4QAoRDONfW_2OSdpU6bSI14tX_pQoIiLa9-pfv1pg00JKF9U_FXhrFnefL47GTxvkkO3cOGa4Wadt6AC5vJhQL9eUvOfjJ209yk98a_hE6HiLMpbydrL6ikZw/s1600-h/Pi4_0003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTJVfxHZYGhZhttid8gSh4QAoRDONfW_2OSdpU6bSI14tX_pQoIiLa9-pfv1pg00JKF9U_FXhrFnefL47GTxvkkO3cOGa4Wadt6AC5vJhQL9eUvOfjJ209yk98a_hE6HiLMpbydrL6ikZw/s400/Pi4_0003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374346571323188546" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rVGRpMmoL6lLqea4bgnxREG0bkHVIkfWXwLmEmdquxH2VpF78aOX6FRnRpB_Qe5dJP7gbPcs66yuAv_xoum45dNbY0V8DRMsvvQ_jElQM-WxNDB8UqhQOOUmX7L8SgTk0Rd7LPncPEyB/s1600-h/Pi5_0004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rVGRpMmoL6lLqea4bgnxREG0bkHVIkfWXwLmEmdquxH2VpF78aOX6FRnRpB_Qe5dJP7gbPcs66yuAv_xoum45dNbY0V8DRMsvvQ_jElQM-WxNDB8UqhQOOUmX7L8SgTk0Rd7LPncPEyB/s400/Pi5_0004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374346362862611986" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZdeKDWgh-uRzALblY9nsO_tcYzuaZjd0Xdq2EoMMXFaGgzZF2RAgqty_LTgotu4Tk70fUjB64PYUOaloPz3SUPljwMC0LR5xi8IoQmkltfLGHfm2otC7JKnIdUWvTuwzL4RcG9wNiDgJ/s1600-h/Pi6_0005.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZdeKDWgh-uRzALblY9nsO_tcYzuaZjd0Xdq2EoMMXFaGgzZF2RAgqty_LTgotu4Tk70fUjB64PYUOaloPz3SUPljwMC0LR5xi8IoQmkltfLGHfm2otC7JKnIdUWvTuwzL4RcG9wNiDgJ/s400/Pi6_0005.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374346085019730306" border="0" /></a>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-63423763190400628562009-08-25T11:57:00.000-07:002009-08-27T20:11:34.676-07:00Mr. Hickman Goes to CanadaSo...I've gotten back from Vancouver, and just in time to rant (and as we all know, my ranting gets raves). I'm liable to pontificate here at length, so either get yourself a cold beverage and settle in, or go do something more productive with your time, like lugubrious nose-twanging.<br /><div> </div>Anyway, there's a lot of talk in socio-political circles these days about "us" and "them." I hear people who I know to be of good conscience and ostensibly noble aims breaking the U.S. down in terms of "our side" and "their side." I hear folks who I would call my pals talking about how suddenly they're "proud of their country again" and how the air smells sweeter just because folks they support are holding the reins at the moment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/77454719_a2b5aaa006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/36/77454719_a2b5aaa006.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div> </div><br /><div>And you know, there's a time when I would have BEEN one of those people. For the first thirty-odd years of my life, when I was probably just to the left of Abbie Hoffman, I would've blindly gone along with that. And when I finally wised up and found myself merely REACTING to what a nimrod I'd previously been, I might have convinced myself of the "common sense" of that, too, and I would have been equally wrong.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div><div>But I'm not a kid anymore, nor am I an over-aged kid who never stopped being a rebel without a clue and asking "whattaya got?" And after a lot of soul-searching, and thousands of hours of my OCD-driven brain being able to think about nothing else (or, more accurately, adding it to the thousand other things my mental state makes me think about constantly and simultaneously), I've come to the conclusion that I have two "enemies" out there.</div><div> </div><br /><div>Nope, they're not one political party or another. Nope, not even a particular ideology.</div><div> </div><br /><div>No, my enemies are, put simply, ignorance and hypocrisy. And I'll give a couple of anecdotes to show to what I refer.<br /><br /></div><div> </div><div>What got me thinking about all this was something that happened during my trip to Canada over the last couple of weeks. Lea and I went to visit her parents in Okanagan Falls, and while we were there (specifically while the snoozy woman I love was sleeping in), I went to an early-morning flea market that was right next door in a big vacant lot. For those who only care about things of a non-politcal/philosophical nature, I'll hold your interest by pointing out that while there, I bought a nice big video camera bag that I can use for all sorts of stuff, four mid-90s wrestling figures for Gabriel (Hogan, Savage, Vader, and Johnny B. Badd), a pair of nice silver/blue stone stud earrings for my girly-man pierced ears, a great handmade leather belt, and a bunch of fresh fruits and vegetables.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/9893/jbbadd.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 350px;" src="http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/9893/jbbadd.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div> </div>Ahem. Anyway, while I was trekking around the place, I stopped by a stand where an older British fellow was conversing with a younger Canadian guy about gun control, the NRA, and such. Now, frankly, I would've liked to have joined in and turned it into a rousing, and possibly heated discussion. Those of you who know me know that there's nothing I like more than debate, and that my answer to "is this the hill you're willing to die on" is always "yes," for good or ill.<div> </div><br /><div>But after a couple of minutes, I realized the utter futility of it all, given the INCREDIBLE ignorance of these guys, especially the Canuck. He was spouting all this absolute drivel, and putting it forth as absolute FACT. He went on about the 2nd Amendment specifically containing the phrase "in defense of God and country" and how that showed what a theocracy we continue to be. Of course, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution">amendment</a> doesn't say anything even REMOTELY like that, but why let simple truth get in the way of a good head of steam?</div><div> </div><br /><div>Then he actually said, and I quote: "Every DAY 22,000 people die in the U.S. from gun deaths." For a second, I thought maybe he had just mispoke; god knows I do often enough. But then he REPEATED it for emphasis. "Ya, <strong>every</strong>... <strong>single</strong>... <strong>day</strong> 22,000 people are killed there because of their stupid love for guns. That means in the ten minutes or so I've been talking to you, over 150 people have been shot and killed."</div><div> </div><br /><div>Uh...22,000 a day. Really. Really?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.funnycorner.net/funny-pictures/5355/Dumbass-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 750px;" src="http://www.funnycorner.net/funny-pictures/5355/Dumbass-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div> </div>Folks, I wanted to slap him with a slab of maple-encrusted back bacon but I'm proud to say I kept my composure. But criminy, I'm pretty sure that math works the same way in the Great White North that it works here, and it doesn't take Enrico freakin' Fermi to figure out that 22,000 people a day amounts to over EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE A YEAR. At that rate, it wouldn't take long before we killed those <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hMJVXt09E">500 million people a month that are losing their jobs.</a><br /><div> </div><br /><div>Y'know, if you want to argue about gun control, that's a valid argument. I might end up still disagreeing with you, but I think there's virtue in having the debate, as I'd certainly like to prevent ANY gun deaths if I could. But for the love of Zod, there's no point in arguing with someone if they don't have ANY sense of the facts behind the issue, on whatever side.</div><div> </div><div>So rather than standing there and doing what I do best (being a pain in the ass), I just let it go. It became obvious from what this guy was saying that not only didn't he know the facts, but he had no DESIRE to know the facts (it's not like he couldn't have found the text to the 2nd Amendment and gun death statistics on the internet in all of about twenty seconds). He had probably heard these "facts" from some other jughead, and since they figured into his agenda, he was willing to accept them as gospel.</div><div> </div><br /><div>And I see this stuff ALL the time, from folks all over the political spectrum. They see something or hear something or read something, and it reinforces what they believe, so it MUST BE TRUE. It makes me sick when someone who disagrees with me blindly accepts this crap, and it makes me even sicker when someone who <strong>agrees</strong> with me does so (as "support" from mallet-heads does nothing but weaken my case).</div><div> </div><br /><div>It never ceases to amaze me (although at this point it should) how willing people are to ignore facts, logic, reason, and objectivity when it makes them feel good about being "on the right side" of an issue. Doesn't the truth matter anymore? But then, I forget that relativism has become the new coin of the realm ("What is truth" said Pontius Pilate).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://c.getbackimages.com/uri/w514_h676_cfalse/biggus-dickus/image/2/9/8/8/2988489.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 514px; height: 408px;" src="http://c.getbackimages.com/uri/w514_h676_cfalse/biggus-dickus/image/2/9/8/8/2988489.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div> </div>We've become so caught up in this elementary school-level mindset of "us vs. them" that we can ONLY see things from one perspective. Y'know, I've been critical of some of the things the current political administration has done, and almost inevitably, when I've voiced that criticism, some yahoo will say "Well, what about Dubya??? Huh? What about THAT?"<div> </div><br /><div>What about that? Well, how about the fact that I wasn't a supporter of Bush, and didn't vote for him his second term (just like I voted for Clinton in 92, but not 96; I may not be a rocket scientist, but I'm a fairly quick study of a man's character). But these poster children for prophylactics apparently can't conceive of someone who doesn't follow a party line, doesn't vote straight ticket, and doesn't fall in lock step with any one ideology. To them, you're either "with us or agin us" and if you don't sycophantically support our guy, you must be in "the enemy's camp."</div><div> </div><br /><div>It's like when I wrote the story "This'll Be the Day" for Holey Crullers #6 (which was redrawn by Sam Kieth for Common Grounds #6). I wrote what I considered a fairly non-controversial story, a tribute to what Steve Englehart and others had done with Captain America at one time, regarding what I thought was the best stuff about America: a degree of opportunity and the freedom to speak out against injustice and lawfully change things if we disagree with them. Wow, what a crazy reactionary notion, eh? And 99% of folks of ALL ideologies seemed to get it. But I did see one or two comments where people referred to it as "propaganda" and such. And for the life of me, I couldn't, and still can't, understand what's propagandistic about saying America, for all its faults (and it has myriad faults), is still a place where we have a lot more freedom and self-determination than many places in the world. I mean, I kind of hold these truths to be self-evident, y'know? But I think some folks were probably rubbed the wrong way that I presented even THAT notion, as it's not firmly in the "America is always the bad guy" mindset. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong. I'll make a separate post with the pages of the story where its heroine, American Pi, and her detractors talk about this country, and <strong>you can decide for yourself</strong> (are there any more beautiful words in the English language?).<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjC0S3Ga9q4CZuLPHJ_y0Q16hY7H6HXy9tcq9yAqbQsa6EOs5cY01qZmF7DI1RjYdtRASoEAhvEO_zk8TlHrfT_CrbpspmmOeW5PSwnOI0kHnLjcq6G1CC5mrnYHv0pMnup_ol2r3KGR94/s1600-h/CG6_0006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjC0S3Ga9q4CZuLPHJ_y0Q16hY7H6HXy9tcq9yAqbQsa6EOs5cY01qZmF7DI1RjYdtRASoEAhvEO_zk8TlHrfT_CrbpspmmOeW5PSwnOI0kHnLjcq6G1CC5mrnYHv0pMnup_ol2r3KGR94/s400/CG6_0006.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374329038433421010" border="0" /></a><div> </div>Now, I said I consider there to be TWO enemies out there, and the other is hypocrisy, a scurvy little spider that burrows under my skin and slowly makes its way to my brain like few other things. I've long said that while nature abhors a vacuum, Troy Hickman abhors a double standard, and few things are truer than that.<br /><div> </div><br /><div>So here's another anecdote from just a few days ago. A guy that I work with, let's call him Percy, was talking about all the recent comparison of a political figure or program with Hitler or the Nazis. He went on about how terrible such analogies are, and I absolutely agreed with him. I think we have to be very careful about when we make such comparison, not just because of the gravity of the charge, but also because at some point, we're going to want that charge to actually MEAN something when we ARE confronted by Nazi-like behavior.</div><br /><div> </div>But then I made the "mistake" of saying that it ALWAYS bothers me, whether it's someone with whom I agree saying it, or Nancy Pelosi and people in the Congress or Senate saying it, or folks CONSTANTLY saying it for the last eight years about Bush (I have a lot of problems with that guy, but they mainly have to do with his wishy-washy qualities, not a resemblance to Adolf).<br /><div> </div><br /><div>Well, those were apparently fightin' words to Percy, who was quick to add "oh, no, it's OK to make those comparisons to the Bushies, and to the tea party and town hall types."<br /><br /></div><div> </div><div>"Why is that OK," I asked, knowing full well what was coming.</div><br /><div> </div>"Because in those cases, of course, it's true!" he said.<br /><div><br /><br /></div><div> </div>I just walked away.<br /><br /><div> </div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/cpayne/2006/06/05/charlie-sigh-769156.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 647px;" src="http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/cpayne/2006/06/05/charlie-sigh-769156.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div>And you know, I find myself more and more these days just walking away. There was a time when I spent Zod knows how many hours making my thoughts known on various message boards, arguing for what I believed was right, fighting the good fight. But these days, I think I've (somewhat) gained the wisdom to know when anything I say is going to fall on deaf ears. These days, rather than arguing with people whose views are almost certainly NEVER GOING TO CHANGE IN ANY WAY, I end up choosing to use that time to do some actual good, to do stuff that may not be as flashy, but that is actually more likely to change the world for the better in PRACTICAL terms. There are a ton of ways a person like myself, who hopefully has at least SOME talent with communication, can make a socio-political difference, other than engaging in irrelevant mental ping-pong with some drone.<br /><br /></div><div> </div><div>Lately, when I DO confront someone with whom I disagree, it's more likely to manifest itself as a simple question: if I could prove to you that what I'm saying is 100% correct, TO YOUR SATISFACTION, would that make a difference to you? Would it cause you to change your views?</div><br /><div> </div>Folks, the answer I usually get should terrify any person who cares about the truth, and reason, and objectivity. It sure scares the living HELL out of me.<br /><br /><div> </div><div>Back to hypocrisy, though. There is NOTHING that shames me more than when someone points out to me that I'm holding a double standard about something. It doesn't happen often, because I at least TRY to be introspective about such stuff, but occasionally I screw up, and when I do I'm mortified. </div><div> </div><br /><div>I'm amazed, though, by how many people hold hypocritical views and not only AREN'T ashamed, but revel in the damned thing!<br /><br />Y'know, in my favorite film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Jimmy Stewart spouts a lot of wisdom, and among it is these lines: <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Now, you're not gonna have a country that can make these kind of rules work, if you haven't got men that have learned to tell human rights from a punch in the nose."</span><br /><br />Sadly, there are far too many folks in this country who don't mind that punch in the nose, as long as it's the "right" nose that's being punched. For example, there are the truly awful people, of WHATEVER political stripe, who have no problem with dictators, as long as those dictators are closer to "our side" of the political spectrum. Hey, here's a crazy idea: evil is evil.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYqGqDFXIutsBNJLq0Kc_Je90TiuW2VUlkCBPukfI_O_BMelT5hLrZW67BpQKwNbsowndQr6WlhBKcNgJHG_bKR-F6cKryGHUKmIMqWTQqU3z1VSraCl-t1R1hoH4K6vDxx5DwQhpa6WM/s400/dictators.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 356px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYqGqDFXIutsBNJLq0Kc_Je90TiuW2VUlkCBPukfI_O_BMelT5hLrZW67BpQKwNbsowndQr6WlhBKcNgJHG_bKR-F6cKryGHUKmIMqWTQqU3z1VSraCl-t1R1hoH4K6vDxx5DwQhpa6WM/s400/dictators.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />And there are far too many people who are perfectly fine with our country becoming a gilded cage, as long as THEIR cage gets some gilding. Well, I'm glad you could get a new Blu-Ray player there, Hoss, but MY freedom is something I'm not willing to sell, and I'm sure as hell not willing to have YOU broker it for me.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><div> </div>These are often the same folks who think they're being "good people" (and they may be) for taking a stand on buying dolphin-safe tuna, or boycotting Walmart, or refusing to support the advertisers of a particular program, but then tell me I'M simply an extremist if I choose not to purchase Ben & Jerry's ice cream or stop buying Springsteen's albums because I disagreed with a position they took.<br /><br /><div> </div>They're the same people who think that if a politician they support says something dumb, that's merely a "slip of the tongue," but if someone on the "other side" does it, they're obviously idiots (we ALL occasionally say goofy crap, whether it's mispronouncing "nuclear" and "strategy," saying there are 57 states, the aforementioned "500 million" comment, or probably a thing or two I say in this rant).<br /><div> </div><br /><div>They're the same people who can talk for YEARS about how dissent is "the highest form of patriotism" (and it may well be) and then LITERALLY, within 24 hours time, change their tune to "we all have to come together" and "it's un-American if you disagree.<br /><br />And sadly, they're the same folks who, by virtue of NOTHING more than a change of political administration, say "I'm finally proud of my country again." Gang, I try, I really, really try to maintain an even strain, and to control my temper, but when I hear that phrase, I just want to go all Billy Jack.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/19/images/xlarge/Floridi_BILLYJA_1906409.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 548px;" src="http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/19/images/xlarge/Floridi_BILLYJA_1906409.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In MY opinion (and this is my freakin' blog, so that's what you're going to get), if you can ONLY be proud of your country when people YOU approve of are in office, or policies with which you agree are in effect...then YOU...JUST...DON'T...GET...IT.<br /><br />I have ALWAYS been proud of my country. I haven't always been proud of the actions of its leaders or its citizens, but the United States of America ITSELF is not just a series of good or bad decisions by individuals or groups. It's about an idea, the idea that people can live freely and determine their own destiny, and the idea that, even if we're vehemently opposed to someone's ideas, we can still UNITE (hence the name) in our common desire for freedom (that's why I will not accept the notion of "diversity uber alles" unless it incorporates the idea of diversity of THOUGHT; otherwise it's nothing more than the superficial attempt to make sure you have different colored eggs in your basket).<br /><br />I feel shame for FDR and the other leaders of his time who allowed the internment of Americans of Japanese descent. But I don't feel ashamed of my country for it. I feel shame for those people in our government who OKed the Tuskegee Study. But I don't feel any less pride for this "experiment" we call the United States of America.<br /><br />I felt tremendous shame for Bill Clinton when he cheated on his wife and lied about it on national television (and if you're the sort of person who says "all men cheat" or "he HAD to lie about it," please, don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on the way out of this blog). But as awful as I consider adultery, I was still proud of our country and its ideals, whatever our president might have done. I felt shame for George W. Bush when he authorized the bailouts late in his term, a cowardly and stupid act that is partially at fault for getting us into our current straits. But his boneheaded play didn't make me any less proud of this nation and what I believe it stands for (and if you want to know what that is, take another look at my American Pi "propaganda" mentioned above).<br /><br />The people of this country have done a lot of terrible things, just like the people of pretty much every country have. They've also done some pretty wonderful things. But either way, the NOTION of the U.S.A., the values that MOST of us (at least the ones not wearing tinfoil hats) strive for, are something bigger than any one of us, bigger than any group of us, bigger than any stupid or miraculous or completely neutral act that we will ever commit.<br /><br />So yeah, I may think you're a total sleazebag. Hell, sometimes I might think I'M a total sleazebag. But this country is a lot more than just you, or me, or Percy, or Springsteen, or Clinton, or Bush, or anyone else. It's about an ideal that, while we may fail terribly to achieve at times, we continue to strive for amidst all the bad decisions and outright EVIL because...well...because it's THAT important.<br /><br />Anyway, I guess I've rambled on enough about this. I think I'll leave off the comments this time since, as I said, I'm not sure I want to spend my time arguing on the internet, especially since you good folks reading this either (A) already get it, or (B) never will (though you can email me if you want). But it's something I needed to get off my chest. Of course, an hour from now I'll be pissed off about it again, but such is the nature of my beast...<br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div> </div><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aAjDmw6IrFg&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aAjDmw6IrFg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-36919935155822421452009-08-05T13:39:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:40:59.820-07:00Quick UpdateA couple of things.<br /><br />(1) I'm currently in Canada. Don't panic, U.S.A....I'll be back soon.<br /><br />(2) I've lost 40 pounds so far. Eventually I'll be half the man I used to be, but still twice the man any of you are! (Except Rosie O'Donnell)Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5232756834677533530.post-72005164090616944522009-07-09T10:41:00.000-07:002009-07-11T10:44:25.185-07:00No Man Is An Island...However...OK, so as of today I've lost 25 pounds on this diet. Hence the premise for this bit!<br /><br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>The Ten Worst Things About Losing Weight</strong></span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYT9wE6PI2j2YTxC7C_GRQYn2Lvr02YYeHHYJd_wUjGjgUatlESEhdHYoxT60PYqgiD7GXzMe6fvW_H-Y-5IDCGBnE3qaac3fyc-4ZKBRY2flqWoRnDtKqBwgkH7x_NvLQXHnp8wLd89qw/s1600-h/buffet.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357255619612517714" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYT9wE6PI2j2YTxC7C_GRQYn2Lvr02YYeHHYJd_wUjGjgUatlESEhdHYoxT60PYqgiD7GXzMe6fvW_H-Y-5IDCGBnE3qaac3fyc-4ZKBRY2flqWoRnDtKqBwgkH7x_NvLQXHnp8wLd89qw/s320/buffet.jpg" border="0" /></a> 10. Not being able to eat delicious foods. Frankly, eating is probably one of the top couple of pleasures in which a human can indulge. Lea and I were talking about this the other night, and we agree that there's not too many things better than a great meal. Yeah, sex is up there (especially the way I do it!!!), holding a puppy, seeing some great natural wonder, yadda yadda yadda. But when you're on a diet, you can still do all that stuff. The sudden inability to have a big, cheesy pizza, or a plate of pirogies covered in sour cream and bacon...well, THAT'S hell.<br /><br /><div>9. Changing sizes of clothes. If you're someone like me who has yoyoed throughout life, and you're smart, you save your clothes of different sizes as you fluctuate. Unfortunately, I haven't always been that smart. At the moment, for instance, I'm transitioning back toward XL shirts, and I'm sure I don't have more than a couple of them in my closet (and bear in mind that I literally have probably a hundred shirts in my closet). And pants? Yeesh. Y'know, when I get down to my goal weight, I think I'm going to take one of my REALLY big pairs and sell them on ebay for charity (I think the City of Heroes gang might bid on 'em, given their preoccupation with my pants).</div><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 370px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 278px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmtZamCkRjUAFWgNPitL2FJFkrtLrEDjz2TgNglfGQxzcGiZSWwolL4tn2-OyX2UGewQ7Imbj0lH1YBcHYHpvNpGE-TcCo5XC4aH__KX1B5r_wMAFqPdX_hp5JoUXpEkjjNUYKfRTTiu2/s400/Subway+Jared.jpg" border="0" /> 8. The fact that people DON'T KNOW you're dieting. See, I've lost a sizeable amount of weight so far, but people who have never seen me before don't know that, so they might assume that I've always been just this size, or worse, that I'm on my way UP. And yes, I realize how neurotic that makes me sound. Know why? Because I'm neurotic.<a href="http://www.bodyqueststore.com/Commercial/Treadmills/Nautilus%20718%20Treadmill.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 392px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 406px" alt="" src="http://www.bodyqueststore.com/Commercial/Treadmills/Nautilus%20718%20Treadmill.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>7. Exercise. Sorry, but just cutting down on the food won't cut it, especially when you get to my advanced stage of decrepitness. You have to hit the gym. And I do, at least five or six days a week, plus my nightly constitutional (that's where I go door to door, telling people about the importance of the Second Amendment).</div><br /><div>6. Free food. See, it's bad just not being able to eat, but when you're as cheap as I am, and you suddenly get the opportunity to score some free food, that's a killer. So when I come into the adjunct faculty room and someone has left donuts or cookies, or when there's a big spread of meats and cheeses at faculty orientation, or when a friend has a barbecue, etc., I want to get as much gratis grub as possible. There's a time when I would have filled my pockets with my ill-gotten booty (or my ill-booten gotty), but now it's for naught. Naught!!!<a href="http://kyspeaks.com/photos/jco_donuts_1.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 500px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 375px" alt="" src="http://kyspeaks.com/photos/jco_donuts_1.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div>5. One of the things people usually do when they try to give up a vice is to increase another vice. But I don't smoke, I rarely drink, I don't gamble. If I'm not overeating, what's going to take up the slack? I do find myself shopping a bit more, especially at dollar store type establishments. I get a certain pleasure from picking up a cheap doodad or knicknack. Not as much as a greasy cheeseburger and fries, but hey...</div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh0DYPmfJX-uDoVsnyI5RUYrbjxa7cwrhL1tLg6ytGB7DAUgaDwL7oyWETb-7mmQ60ksi2UvlI8wRE6jdvB8bSGf2BftYO7trPyq0MVUOIOfCHSD_Qs46f9wVEPVMNGz-3td1co9ZMH4I/s400/JohnCandy.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 331px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh0DYPmfJX-uDoVsnyI5RUYrbjxa7cwrhL1tLg6ytGB7DAUgaDwL7oyWETb-7mmQ60ksi2UvlI8wRE6jdvB8bSGf2BftYO7trPyq0MVUOIOfCHSD_Qs46f9wVEPVMNGz-3td1co9ZMH4I/s400/JohnCandy.jpg" border="0" /></a>4. My head. Look, I've been as heavy as almost 400 pounds, and as "normal" as 175, but no matter how much weight I lose, I still have a big, round head. I wish we lived in a society where the standard for male beauty was less Keanu Reeves and more John Candy, but unfortunately you folks have dropped the ball...</div><br /><div>3. It's a strange thing to say, but after you've lost the weight, you sometimes feel guilty around other folks who are heavier, as if you've "gone over to the other side," as silly as that sounds. That's a phenomenon that occurs in a lot of subcultures, though (for example, I understand from friends there's sometimes a real clanishness in the deaf community regarding folks who regain their hearing, or who live too much outside the "deaf world"). The thing is, though, that there's not really much solidarity among fat people. Yes, we do enable each other to pig out and such when we're friends, romantic partners, etc. But if you think overweight folks are much more accepting of other fatties, don't kid yourself. Some of the meanest comments you'll ever hear are from other fat people (and given the rate of obesity, they're becoming legion). It may be a defense mechanism, it may be self-hatred, it may simply be that they're as affected by cultural norms as anyone else, but it's there.</div><br /><div>2. Weight comes off slowly. SLOWLY. Nothing irks me more than the fact that I could easily put on a couple of pounds a day, but there's no way in hell that I could ever take it off that fast (not that either is really healthy). The worst part about it is that, at least for me, to keep my motivation strong, I need to see an actual loss on a regular basis. Lea always tells me not to weigh myself every day, because there will be fluctuations, but homey can't play that. If I only weighed myself, say, once a week, and there wasn't any loss in that week? It'd be very tough to keep going beyond that point. </div><div><a href="http://www.movieline.com/images/kirstie_alley%2Bfat%2Bactress.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 505px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 403px" alt="" src="http://www.movieline.com/images/kirstie_alley%2Bfat%2Bactress.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>1. The adjustment. I'm guessing most of you have never gone through a really major weight loss (say, at least 100 pounds), but it's just damned hard getting used to the difference. For at least a time (and I'm not sure I've ever been "thin" long enough to make it all the way through it), there's a time when you don't really know how to move, act, etc., because you're suddenly quite literally half the person you used to be. Even at 175, I'm not sure I ever stopped feeling like a fat guy. </div><div> </div><br /><div>Now, that's the DOWN side. After I lose another five pounds, I'll be back to tell you the ten BEST things about losing weight. Same fat time, same fat channel...</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Troy Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15163654062811571435noreply@blogger.com5