Archive for July, 2010


On this blog, I often spend weekends discussing themes (like comics or local events), but I thought this time I’d go video by sharing some pieces from my favorite musicians.

First up is the one who got me interested in piano music, Jim Brickman. This song is the first one of his I ever heard. It was playing regularly on a local radio station, but the announcers would never say what it was called or who was performing it. Finally, one Sunday morning as I was running errands, the DJ said it was “Angel Eyes” played by Jim Brickman. As soon as I heard that, I was off to the local music store, bought the CD, rushed home, listened to and fell in love with the beautiful music. (When I read the information that came with the CD, I discovered he had previously released another CD, which sent me running to downtown DC so I could buy that one, too! I was hooked!) This video reminds me of the time I saw him in concert a couple of years back–he performed this as an encore!

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It takes a while to sort out what happens each year at the San Diego Comic-Con. This year is no exception. At SciFiPulse.Net, Ian and I are still sifting through news items and videos from the big event.

Here’s how one reporter, rudie from anyclip.com, looked back at his con experience:

>>It’s Tuesday, I just got back from San Diego and Comic-Con. This was my first trip to Comic-Con and moreover, my first trip to San Diego. What a wonderful city! This city is the perfect mix of surf and pop culture. Everything in the downtown area is dedicated to Comic-Con and it’s fans. From the 70 degree weather to the smell of sea water, to the beautiful people of southern California to, of course, the beach; my experience in San Diego for Comic Con was magical, exciting and, by far, one of the nerdiest things I have ever done in my life.

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I keep hoping that race will stop being an issue in today’s society, but then I read stories like the following from wftv.com:

>>A 14-year-old Palm Bay boy could be charged with a hate crime. Police say he attacked a white man just because he was listening to rap music.

The boy beat up the 22-year-old man because he didn’t think white people should listen to rap music, police said. The man told WFTV he was listening to “Wasted” by Gucci Mane.

David McKnight did not fight back when 14-year-old Joshuah Lamb punched him in the face repeatedly, investigators said. Battery is the only charge Lamb faces, but he could face felony hate crime charges.

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When something is really good, I want to share that find with others. And that’s how I feel about Avatar Of The Futurians #1 by David Miller, which will be available tomorrow at comics stores here in the States.

I’m lucky enough to have a copy of this comic in my possession–it helps to know the creator personally!  The book is fast-paced, well drawn, has excellent dialogue and art, and could easily be produced by DC Comics or Marvel. It’s not–it is self-published, but is professional enough to put some of the “big” comics offerings to shame!

Let me get to the vital statistics right away: Avatar Of The Futurians is a full-color comic costing $3.99 in the U.S. If you’re a fan of Highlander, Harry Potter, King Arthur and, of course, The Futurians, then this series is for you! For more information, you can check out the website for David Miller Studios.

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As the economy continues to worsen, times are getting tougher and tougher for smaller towns. Raising taxes has turned out to be a very unpopular option, so city’s are cutting back on services.

For one town in Texas, that means keeping only two members of their police force to try and keep them safe. Or is it something more political in nature?

Here’s the story from a local news site:

>>City Terminates All But Two in Police Force

By Shane Allen

Nearly every police officer for a small north Texas city was terminated from the payroll during a council meeting Saturday.

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Now that the San Diego Comic-Con is history for 2010, it is time to look forward. Where will comics be in five or ten years?

Every once in a while, someone comes along and announces they are going to “save the comics industry.”  They usually start up a company that does well for a while.  But comics are an expensive proposition, and eventually even the wealthiest of investors cuts his or her losses, then disappears.

Also, occasionally the word is that comics are all going digital.  One comic I can think of in particular is only available online.  And some of the older comics have been available on PDF for a while now.  Will we make our weekly trek to the local comics shop to pick up a disc of the comics we want on it?  Or will we download them from an FTP site and save ourselves the trip?

Predicting the future is always a tricky thing.  I’m always amazed at the project that appears “out of the blue,” taking people by surprise, and being a big hit.  I always refer to the Harry Potter books as a good example.  Since most of you know that story, I won’t repeat it again here.  Let’s just say that J.K. Rowling went from abject poverty to being the richest woman in the U.K.  And no one expected it.

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Only bad writers.  Or at least, writers who don’t know what to do with the characters.

How many times have we seen comics characters go down in flames, even die, only to see them rise up again “because you demanded it?”

My favorite examples of this come from the DC Comics universe—Green Lantern, The Flash, and the Justice Society of America. (We’ll ignore Superman and Batman for the moment.)

It was about 20 or so years ago that the good folks at DC decided that nobody could write The Flash.  After all, he’s so incredibly fast that he could solve any problem as soon as it happened.  It was impossible to challenge him.  Or so we were told.

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In honor of the San Diego Comic-Con, I thought I would revisit some of my articles from SciFiPulse.Net, which recently was voted one of the top 45 Sci-Fi Book Blogs. This was one of my first “Comix Portal” columns on the site:

I spend a fair amount of my time and income on comics and comic-related merchandise. For example, as I write this, my computer screen is surrounded by Justice League Unlimited figures, staring at me intently.  And I can’t let them down–or else!

Ever since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by the possible.  Even if something is very unlikely, it could still take place.  And that has always tickled my imagination and drawn me to things beyond the commonplace.  This is also probably why I love science fiction so much.

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For fans of comics and genre-related television and films, this weekend is literally Christmas in July. Now, I’ve never been to the San Diego Comic-Con, but I hope to get there next year, if I’m at all lucky. I do understand it takes over a huge portion of the city, and trying to drive is a big mistake … better to use the local cabs and buses.

I do have a friend who has gone to Comic-Con several times, and he enjoys himself. He remembers when Comic-Con only dealt with … comics. Now it is a huge media event, with trailers and promos for upcoming film and television programs turning into big business. A good example of this was the first Iron Man film, which got a huge boost from word-of-mouth publicity, and that’s largely credited for making it a franchise for Marvel. Of course, others took notice of that, so there will be trailers and preview footage for Green Lantern from DC and Tron: Legacy from Disney as well as the upcoming Thor film for Marvel.

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Just when you thought you’d seen everything, a story like this on Yahoo comes along:

>>Parachuting donkey shocks Russian beachgoers

MOSCOW (AFP) – – Russian beachgoers got a shock when they saw a donkey soaring in the blue skies over the balmy beaches on the Sea of Azov in southern Russia last week, police said on Tuesday.

Attached to a parachute, the animal screamed in fear as it circled over heads of holidaymakers sunbathing on a beach in the Cossack village of Golubitskaya in the Krasnodar region.

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