Comic for Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

Posted: 7:40 am, Wednesday, July 5th

So, did everyone have a nice 4th of July? 2.0 and I schlepped our little grill down to the park and had us some provolone and red pepper sausage that our alchemist meat market made. Holy geez, it was good. Then we listened to a little baseball and basically just lazied around. It was a good Fourth.

Expect an update on this later today - gays may soon be allowed to marry in the state of New York. That would be a nice in-yer-eye to the fundies.

Been readin' comics the past few days here at Five Bucks World Headquarters. 2.0's mom gave me and B&N gift card for my birthday, so I got Box Office Poison, by the guy that did Tricked that I rambled about a little last summer or so. It's outstanding - more freeform than Tricked was, and about twice as long, so it's got the nice languid pacing that you poor unfortunates that read this thing know that I'm a fan of. Anyway, highly recommended. I also got Will Eisner's Contract with God that came out in a new edition a few months back. Most of Eisner's stuff that I've read has been reprints of old pulp stuff - a lot of his Spirit comics from the 40s and 50s - so I was shocked to see how much more expressive his linework was in this edition. It opens with a scene in the rain, and, damn, it's so well-rendered that I felt like I was soaking wet after just looking at it. Amazing stuff.

2.0 and I watched Vertigo during a rainstorm yesterday - dear God, that's one of Hitchcock's masterpieces? Non mi piace.

Oh, man, this Saturday at Six Flags New England, they're doing a sports spectacular of some sort, and Bill Lee is going to be there. Bill Lee! Friggin' Spaceman! Outstanding. I still can't get over the fact that putz Seanez gets to wear the hallowed 37.

According to On the DL, this is the MySpace page of Devil Rays pitcher Seth McClung, who I saw pitch back in May. I heckled him simply by yelling his name. Of course, I'm not very good at heckling. It's not particularly awful, but everything associated with the D-Rays is pretty much a nightmare - especially the fact that the Sox have managed to lose two in a row to them. Egad. (By the way, I know I kind of slacked on those, but the MySpace nightmare is here for a while longer, at least, since there's no shortage of toe-curlingly awful .html for me to find.)

bullfrog

Slate Magazine has an article today on the Barack Obama's recent keynote on the place of faith in politics. It's inspiring, even for a secular humanist such as myself.

Here's a link to the speech:

http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060628-call_to _renewal_keynote/index.html

Mmm, founding father beer. I've never been big on Sam Adams, but I'll probably give this stuff a shot if I see it around.

http://villagevoice.com/nyclife/0627,zappia,73 645,15.html

Holy shit, looks like I was wrong about that pardon coming Kenny Boy's way in two years.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/07/05 /breaking-news-ken-lay-found-dead/

I'm not going to say rest in peace, because he was the scum of the earth, but I won't say burn in hell, either.

To compare 4th stories... I spent the day doing mostly un-American things--not spending money, not driving petroleum powered vehicles, not turning on my AC, doing homework, and talking on the phone. I even had fajitas for dinner (which means it's pot roast and mashed potatoes for 16 Septeimbre). Perhaps I am saved in that I watched almost two hours of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel before going to bed.

We spent money, but only at locally owned businesses (bagel shop, meat market, pizza place). Oh, shit, wait, I went to Key Food for charcoal and Corona. Dammit.

I'll toss up the Slate article about Obama's speech because it takes a different, and insightful, tack than most of the spin around the speech: http://www.slate.com/id/2144983

It forefronts the fact that Obama takes time to apologize for missteps in his political career and considers the role that doubt plays in faith.

One of my all-time favorite quotes:

"There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

I found this facinating (with regards to Ken Lay dying) ``The death of a criminal defendant while the appeal of his case is pending abates the entire criminal proceeding,'' Androphy said. ``Everything associated with the case is extinguished, leaving the defendant as if he'd never been indicted or convicted.''

What if lay comes back to life?

Oh, I know this one - you have to aim for the head.