Two unsolicated endorsements

First, an Ebay seller:

Three or four years ago, having missed the first 5+ years of Peter David's run on Supergirl, I went looking on eBay for a complete set, and found issues 10-68 issues for $20, shipping included. That seller's definition of "free shipping," unlike most, was priority mail. It's one of the best deals I've ever nabbed on eBay, and I kept an eye on the seller, as he sold lots of comics, dvds, and graphic novels. I bid a few times, but never won anything again.

Then, two weeks, he put a bunch of graphic novels up for bid, and I bid on six of them, figuring I'd only score one or two.

Imagine my surprise when I found that I'd won five of them. I was committed to over $40 worth of stuff, which was more than I'd really planned on spending, but since I'd bid, I'd deal with it.

Then I got his invoice. Because I'd won multiple items, he gave me (without my asking at all) a discount. To $30 for five graphic novels. Still with the free priority mail shipping.

I got the following comic collections in the mail on Saturday:

Green Arrow: Quiver
Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence
Green Arrow: Archer's Quest
Green Arrow: Straight Shooter
Point Blank

Compare the list prices, or even the discounted Amazon prices, and you'll see why I'm pretty shocked at how good a deal I got. The first four books are the first four trades from the current Green Arrow series, and are written by Kevin Smith (the first two), Brad Meltzer (#3), and Judd Winick. The Meltzer collection, Archer's Quest, is one of my all-time favorite stories, containing the only Green Arrow moment to ever bring a tear to my eye, as well as some wonderful Superman/GA dialogue that nicely reflects some of their conversations in Identity Crisis. It also contains one of my all-time favorite credit boxes, after a Solomon Grundy story. The fifth book is an Ed Brubaker story that I've heard great things about (haven't gotten to it yet).

But I digress. The point is, great, great, seller, and given his regular inventory (graphic novels, DVD box sets, etc), someone I suspect many of you would also get good deals from. His seller ID is Zenmichael (although he doesn't have any active auctions as I write this). Definitely someone worth bookmarking.

Second endorsement: Coffee. Last time I was in Whole Foods, I came across a wonderful blend called Pleasant Morning Buzz. What amazed me is that the whole beans were packed so freshly, they still glistened with oil (the way it should be), something you certainly don't get with most pre-packaged coffee (aside from our orders from StoryHouse. The coffee is not only incredibly fresh, it's quite yummy, and it's hella cheap -- the 24 oz. bag of whole beans cost $9.99, way less than what you'll pay for not-nearly-as-fresh Starbucks or Caribou. Definitely worth stocking up on.

A few random notes

Didn't watch the season premiere of Deadwood, as it was up against the two-part Arrested Development. But the late-night re-airing is on my Tivo, waiting for me.

Also didn't watch the new Robot Chicken or Sealab, because, well, sleep.

AD was damned funny. Painfully so, at times. More painfully, when realizing that Fox will soon step in and cancel them, because two seasons of quality TV is way above the Fox quota.

Over in Kingdom of Loathing, I'm coming to, well, loathe the motherfucking Topiary Golem. I know I just need to keep leveling up, but it's driving me bloody bonkers.

My toe (broken, as reported over the weekend) is less swollen today, thanks to the ice/buddy taping combo (thanks to mooseloon for advice on that front). Still hurts, though. And it's amazing how often one bumps/brushes the side of one's foot against things.

I'm still doing the cube move (give me three weeks to move, and it'll take me three weeks). I've discovered that my under-desk file cabinet doesn't fit under the desk in the new cube, in spite of the fact that all the cubes are supposed to be alike (other than the series of numbers, some prime, at the entrance). Fortunately, found a space for it under the table outside the cube.

Just had a true moment of stupidity. Was attempting to log into BB to create a course for a faculty member, and kept getting an error. I figured I'd made a typo on the password (I use unique ones for any work accounts), tried again, and still got an error. I typed super-slowly, one key at a time, just in case, and still got an error.

Then I looked at the "username" field and realized that I'd type in "Yendi" instead of my "real" work username. D'oh!

Yeah, I think I need more coffee.

Scariest headline ever.

Bush Nominates Bolton as U.N. Ambassador

I had this brief, horrible vision of our ambassador singing "How Can We Be Lovers if We Can't be Friends?" in front of the General Assembly. I mean, if the world didn't hate us before, that would seal the deal.

Fortunately, it's some other guy named Bolton.

You must be shitting me!

Rumor du jour: Tarantino to direct the next Friday the 13th movie.

Even though it's nearly a month before April 1, I'd have to cry "bullshit" on this one. Tarantino, for all his violence, is all about the dialogue. And Jason doesn't exactly give a rat's ass what they call an evisceration by machete in France.

That said, as a fan of both QT and JV, I'd damned well be first in line to see it.

Debra Hill

As noted by sweinberg, Debra Hill passed away today after a year-long battle with cancer. Debra co-wrote the screenplays to Halloween, Halloween II, and The Fog with John Carpenter (the fictional town of Haddonfield, IL, site of those rampages of Michael Myers, is named after Debra's hometown of Haddonfield, NJ), and also produced those films and such greats as The Fisher King and Big Top Pee-Wee. She was one of the greats, and deserves to be remember with a hell of a lot more than the inevitable one-paragraph obit in EW.

King does Pulp!

In slighter better news, Stephen King (you know, they guy who retired) is writing a pulp crime novel for the new Hard Case Crime series of retro paperbacks. His novel is called The Colorado Kid, and in spite of the title, it's set in Maine (of course). In spite of my snark, I'm actually kind of psyched about it, as I adore the old pulps, and King's got a good writing style for them.

New Sin City Trailer

New trailer up. It's good. Damned good.

Say what you will about Christianity

But anything that stops the onslaught of Korn can't be all bad.