Happy Shark Week!

It's Shark Week 2011 on Discovery! Big woot goes out to Andy Samberg for being their CSO (Chief Shark Officer). I know I'm giving them free advertising, and usually I am loathe to do something like that. I'm just REALLY into Shark Week.

Sure. Sharks freak me the hell out. I don't like being anywhere that I'm not at the top of the food chain. Doesn't stop me going into the water tho. I just look around alot.

Starts tonight on The Discovery Channel.

A Farewell to Arams

A fond farewell to our very good friend Aram! You will be greatly missed. Wii Sports and Apples to Apples will never be the same. Good luck and come back to visit soon... We love ya, man!

PS- I'm watching The IT Crowd right now!

The Mighty Jungle

1994- ?

It's been 17 years since I started drawing and writing The Mighty Jungle. This sample was for a website I created in 1999 to promote my work.

I'd originally started the idea as a proposal for a daily newspaper comic strip. It's still not out of the question. Unfortunately, my notorious lack of motivation holds me back. All I'd have to do is submit it.... Maybe more PG rated, though . Sure. I've succeeded at getting my work published over the years. This one, however, I found myself drawing mostly for me and my friends.

I named my 3 main characters after Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton. Weirdly enough, my favorite ended up being Otto the Alligator. Originally a sideline, but maybe the one I associated with the most. Characters do develop and evolve, which I can attest to, because all of them started to take lives of their own. Otto is a superb example of that. I'd gone from writer to documenter in no time flat.

By today's standards they would be a cliche. A belching, swearing, offensive group indeed. Four animals living in the city with human relatives and human jobs (Otto is a computer programmer). They went to strip clubs, they were stalked by a psychotic.... stalker, and dug up a dead grand-dad for a "grandson/grandfather" photo contest. Which they won. I think it was for 500 dollars. Wouldn't YOU dig up your grand-dad for 500 bucks? Maybe not.

It's a comic strip, folks.

Angels, Cybermen, and Spoilers...

Wellllll..... Not exactly spoilers, but the trailer does raise some interesting questions. The biggest I believe is, "Why is River Song wearing that eyepatch?". Is she really Madame Kovarian? Is Madame Kovarian really The Rani? Is The Rani really "Rani" in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but as a kid?...... Or did she just get a job as a French Quarter pirate impersonator?

Doctor Who returns Aug. 27th at 8c with (and by god this is the worst Who title in history) "Let's Kill Hitler". Other than that it looks like a great 2nd half of the 2011 series. As long as the Moff doesn't wibbley wobbley, timey wimey the show into the ground.

Monty Python- The Tale of Sir Lancelot

Since I'm going to gone all day, I thought I'd post this little gem I found on YouTube from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Enjoy and I'll be back tomorrow!

Hitchin' a ride with the Russians...

Today marked the end of the Space Shuttle program for the United States. For the foreseeable future, if an American wants to go into orbit he or she will have a multi-million dollar cab fare.

The picture attached was taken by the International Space Station crew as Atlantis made its final descent. It was the end of an era and the end of a sporadic, yet lucrative tourist trade in Cape Canaveral. What would Apollo astronaut Major Anthony Nelson think of all this? Not much. He's busy making out with Jeannie.

I'm not going to be too critical. It was time for the shuttle program to end. Government run space organizations and private enterprise have made leaps forward which would soon have made the shuttle obsolete. Is that vague yet specific enough to make me sound like I know what I'm talking about?

To commemorate one of the most successful endeavors in human history, I present you with some fun facts (conveniently copied and pasted from The Huntsville Times.... Hey! That's where Space Camp is!).

An Xbox 360 has far more power than the flight computer

The flight computer aboard the space shuttle has less than one percent of the power of an Xbox 360 game console. Astronauts load programs directing the phases of a mission - liftoff, orbit, landing - into the computer one at a time after removing the program for the previous segment. Why hasn't NASA upgraded the computer? The agency values its 30-year history of reliability. That said, astronauts don't go into space with only one computer. Crew laptops and other laptops also make the trip.

Thank 'Star Trek' for the first shuttle's name

The space shuttle has a "Star Trek" connection. Fans of the original TV show flooded NASA in the 1970s with letters urging the first orbiter be named for the spaceship in the show, and the White House responded by changing its planned name to Enterprise. The Enterprise, however, never had an engine and never flew in space. It was used for tests to prove the craft could fly through the atmosphere and land. What was the name originally planned for the Enterprise? Constitution.

Night launches rare

The space shuttle launched at night for 34 of its 135 total flights, counting the scheduled last launch on July 8.

Gas sucker

If the orbiter's main engines pumped water instead of fuel, they would drain an average-sized swimming pool every 25 seconds. Because liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel the main engines, the majority of exhaust produced is water vapor.

4.5 million pounds of shuttle

The space shuttle "stack," including the orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external tank, weighs more than 4.5 million pounds at launch. It has 3.5 million pounds of propellants that will be entirely consumed in liftoff.

So Long and Thanks For All the Phish

Books, movies, and music! These are a few of my favorite things. Sadly, Borders will be closing it's doors for good by the end of September. Sure. It's not as cool a place as it used to be. I worked at the Duluth location (by Gwinnett Mall outside of Atlanta) years ago. Met my ex-wife there. That was back when we got a monthly employee credit of 150 bucks. Interesting fact: I am responsible for a company-wide rule that restricted employees from using their credit in the cafe (I really liked the veggie burgers).

Ahhhhhhh! Great days! We could wear whatever we wanted so long as it wasn't too offensive. We even designed our own name badges. Mine was a sketch that I did of a surprised looking Opus yelling, "Jay is really Steve Dallas?!". Well.... At some point after my departure, they did away with the store credit. Employees couldn't creatively express themselves like in the old days. And merchandise prices went waaaaaay up. We'd always made fun of Barnes and Noble for being too stiff, and they ended up winning in the end.

I say, "Thank you, Borders!", for turning me on to music, movies, and books that I would never have found. Shame on you, too, for giving up your identity. You forgot your roots. You are nothing like that first store you opened in Ann Arbor, and I believe that is part of what led to your downfall. I was so excited when you opened a store on St. Charles Ave. (right up the road from where I live), and so disappointed when you closed it a few years later. In this area of New Orleans all we have are shoe shops, bars, and antiques stores. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration.... but not a big one. Pity us.

We'll miss ya, Borders. And those yummy veggie burgers.

If I Want To See Reality, I'll Walk Outside

In my humble opinion, quality television began its death throes in the 90's with "M"TV and "The Real World". Admittedly, there are a few reality shows that I like. Whale Wars, American Pickers, Deadliest Catch to name a few. Shows like Jersey Shore, Survivor, Big Brother, Insert City Where Housewives Reside Here, and anything that involves Paris Hilton are insipid and show humanity at its absolute worst. Now that I have your spirits up, here's a list of the winter "reality" shows. I'll leave it to you to pick the good from the bad.....

January

• Worst Cooks in America 2, My Fair Wedding with David Tutera, Rich Bride, Poor Bride, The Bachelor 15, Live to Dance, The Biggest Loser: Couples, Dangerous Encounters, Chopped, Ghost Hunters International, I Shouldn’t Be Alive, Border Wars, Wipeout, Jersey Shore, Ace of Cakes, Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes, Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star, Confessions: Animal Hoarding, Basketball Wives, Alaska State Troopers, Ax Men, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, Bad Girls Club, You’re Cut Off , The X Life, Teen Mom, Campus PD, Sons of Guns, Police Women of Cincinnati, Beyond Scared Straight, Flying Wild Alaska, Conviction Kitchen, Brooklyn Kinda Love, Wild Animal Repo, Hogs Wild, Heavy, Genuine Ken: The Search for the Great American Boyfriend, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, American Idol 10, Restaurant: Impossible, Kitchen Nightmares (We were actually in an episode of this show), Meet the In-Laws, My Big Redneck Wedding, An Idiot Abroad, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Holly’s World, Cake Boss, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, A Stand Up Mother, Face Off, Kidnap & Rescue, Pit Boss, Boomtown, Brick City, Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf...
• February
• One Born Every Minute, Million Dollar Listing, Who Do You Think You Are?, Top Gear, Top Shot 2, My Life As Liz, Quad Squad, Glamour Belles, Fatal Attractions, The Real Housewives of New York City, Survivor Redemption Island, Our America with Lisa Ling, Man vs. Wild, Out of the Wild: Venezuela, The Amazing Race 18, America’s Next Top Model, Shedding for the Wedding, Ghost Hunters, Bethenny Ever After, Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married, Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen
• March

• Beast Hunter, American Loggers, Secret Millionaire, America’s Next Great Restaurant, Chopped All-Stars, The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Family Crews, The Celebrity Apprentice 4, Taking on Tyson, Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back, All About Aubrey, The Real World 25: Las Vegas, Love & Hip Hop, Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force, Ton of Cash, Beverly Hills Fabulous, Shark Tank, Addicted to Food, What the Sell?!, Coal, Swamp People, Aaaaaaannnnnnddddddd.... Destination Truth.

Whew. I dunno about you, but I'm keeping MY eyes open for "Nail Files".....

Shadow Puppets and Cussin'

Just watched a contemporary interpretation of Dante's Inferno (one of my favorite literary works). It is described as "The unholy offspring of Mike Judge and R. Crumb" by Robert Adele of the LA Times. I found it funny, relevant, and highly irreverent. The shadow puppetry was a bit boring at first, but improved along the way. The big musical number about lobbyists was the highlight of the movie. Watching a giant, red devil eating people dipped in Cheez Whiz and drinking RC was bizarrely entertaining as well (not as grotesque as it sounds). The film itself has its grotesque moments, however, so I wouldn't recommend it to the easily offended. James Cromwell is brilliant as the voice of Virgil, considering the fact that all Romans are supposed to have British accents.

Overall, a good watch and fairly faithful to the spirit of the original work.

Woot

Hello and welcome! Willkommen! Bienvenue! Of course, I might as well be talking to myself since a) this is my first post and b) I'm currently the only person reading this.

However, if you do happen to find yourself here, which you obviously have, I'm certainly glad ya dropped by!

In upcoming posts you can look forward to some of my very best, hand-picked ramblings about everyday life in New Orleans, adventures with my partner Sarah, photos, graphics, comics, and videos. Oh... And here's a shocker. I will occasionally bring news and commentary of some of my awesomest favorite things. Doctor Who, movies, science stuff, and politics to name only a few. So strap in! Let me know what ya think. Hopefully I can provoke a little thought or at least a chuckle.

Cheers! -Jay