And so it begins

Today is registration day, which means three times the email requests, four times the troubleshooting, and five times the fun (see Meatloaf album titles if you believe all three will happen). It also means three hours plus of teaching classes, and damned little time at my desk to relax. So I don't expect to be online much today (at least, not online and having fun).

A few quick things:

I finished de Lint's The Blue Girl yesterday. Loved it, which isn't much of a surprise. It's a much more mature (and at times, surprising) YA fantasy than his previous attempts, and any book with Christy Riddell in it is usually one I'll like. As a straightforward look at high school cliquishness and outsiders, though, it suffers from my continued viewing of Season 1 of Popular, which takes much more courageous steps with its characters, and makes them all much deeper than some of the supporting cast in TBG. That said, it's still a damned fine read.

I'm now working on Kage Baker's The Life of the World to Come. Yay for more Mendoza (and yay for the wonderful mendoza, who also deserves to star in her own sci-fi series someday).

Quick hits:

Lying in the Gutters reports that the Ultimate Longshot will be gay. This gives the Ultimate Longshot a 1-0 advantage over the regular Longshot in terms of actually having a definable personality trait (yes, LS would be my least favorite X-man ever, if it weren't for the fact that he's not a mutant, and the fact that Gambit has managed to surpass him by a, well, long shot).

Meanwhile, Newsarama has a nice interview with Tony Bedard about his upcoming run on Rogue, as well as Marvel's new book deals, and (most importantly), the collected Nexus!

Final note on this weekend's football: The Jets were the only losing team to even be in their game, and the Colts were the only other one to show up for at least a half. Which, imho, speaks volumes about why I prefer the AFC, which has more than two good teams.

That said, Falcons and Pats in the Super Bowl, with the Pats winning. The PA teams have mastered choking too well, and their opponents have momentum (and, in the case of the Pats, vastly superior players) on their sides.

Finally, we're planning a Mad Science party for Elayna's birthday this year. Anyone who might have suggestions for our mix CD, check out shadesong's post over here.

Off to teach, perchance to dream.

Pink Panther!

So, there was a copy of the Spring 2005 edition of my favorite porn (the DK Publishing Catalog), and flipping through it, there's a Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide coming out in June!

And if that's not enough, Michael Jackson (the Beer Hunter, not the Child Molester) is releasing the DK book of Whiskey.

They're also updating the Batman: The Ultimate Guide book (nice pics of Supes/Bats and Hush in the catalog -- the new edition is listed as sixteen pages longer, but I don't know if any content was excised or modified from the original volume).

I love this company.

Hate this day, but love this company.

Why?

Mcfarlane Toys lands the Simpsons license.

Why? Who the fuck needs this? Playmates did a great job with the line already, and every possible character has a figure now. Who'll buy them?

Don't get me wrong -- I like McFarlane Toys when they're doing movie monsters, but The Simpsons is not only a license I can't imagine them doing well, it's one that I see as tapped out.

Why I love conversations with my daughter

Me (interrupting her looooong talk about Inkheart): You should go potty. You can take Inkheart with you. Or something less challenging. Bathroom reading doesn't have to be brain surgery, especially since brain surgery on the potty isn't a good idea.

Elayna: Silly. How can you do brain surgery on the potty? The toilet doesn't have a brain.

Me: Well, that's the first problem. You've got to put a brain in the toilet first, and that's just gross.

Elayna: And illegal.

Yes, she takes this stuff in stride, and can even run with it. :-)

In other Elayna news, she got elevated to the highest spelling group today, and still got a 90% on the pre-test. I think her teacher needs to form a completely new group just for her.

Bitch, please!

"I have to say that I have never, ever, lost respect for the truth in the service of anything."

Condi -- or, as I prefer to call you, Lying Creature of No Moral Value Whatsoever -- that's the most disingenuous political statement since "I did not have sex with that women."

Sure, you didn't lose respect for the truth while servicing Bush, but you never had one fucking lick of it to begin with.