Censorship is Alive and Well in Georgia...

Okay, I know I wasn't going to talk about comics for awhile but a) I can't help myself and b) these two bits are more in the line of relevant current events that happen to be set on a background of the comics world. I've provided a couple of links that should flesh things out nicely....please visit these sites.

Comic-Book Store Owner on Trial for Nude Images

...is the first story (click this link to get the full story http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12768951) . Here's the basic jist: comic book store owner in Georgia three years ago tries to be part of the community and rather than giving out candy on Halloween, gives out comics. One of the kids, aged nine, with little brother, aged six, in tow grabs a comic anthology. Couple of days later the owner of the shop is arrested for peddling obscene materials to minors. Mr. Lee, the owner of the shop has had this lawsuit hanging over his head for the past three years and finally goes to court this week. If convicted of wilfully giving this material to the two boys, Mr. Lee faces up to a year in prison and a $1000.00 fine.

I really don't what to say here except that maybe Mr. Lee should apologize and the parents of the two kids should accept the apology and we should all move on. From what I've read on the case, there was no willful intent to expose the boys to "harmful" material (oh come on...most of what they're watching on TV is way worse than anything they'll see in a comic anyhow). The real potential for damage here the possibility that comics could once again be plunged into the "obscene" category and make this ripe for a whole new generation of comics-censoring (see Comics Code Authority in wikipedia for more on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority ).

Idiots

...ever been to Florida? Georgia? Alabama? Any other state that has tropical-type swamps, rivers and ponds and, therefore, alligators and crocodiles and all manner of other horrible, creeping monster? Well, maybe yes and maybe no, but regardless, you should be able to understand how stupid this guy is...not too long ago, I heard a news story involving a golf vacationer in Florida. Now, about halfway through his game, this bozo shanks his shot into the rough, which, in the Sunshine State, equals Mulligan, because really, who the Hell is really going to chase in after a $3.00 ball with all manner of man-killing things lurking about? All common sense aside, the signs posted all over the course stating "STAY THE HELL OUT!" and "HORRIBLE HUNGRY BITEY BASTARDS ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT!" should have been a clue. But NO!...the result of several billion years of human evolution on this planet strolled right past these signs, waded right in, pulled a Happy Gilmore after his ball and....do I really need to spell it out? He came up WITH the ball and WITHOUT his extra hand. The croc that got him apparently tried to pull him under to drown him for later, but the guys' buddies managed to wrest him from the jaws of certain death...and a HUGE favor to the quality of the gene pool in the direct vicinity of this mental bastard.

Now...a rational person might think to oneself "Self? This retard probably shouldn't be allowed to live as he is clearly the genetic equivalent of piss in a newly cleaned pool and should thank his lucky stars that he's alive at all, get down on his knees and pray, throw a few hunnert bucks at his church of choice and get on with his life in a humble and responsible fashion--lesson learned" and that person would, in my humble opinion, be absolutely, 100% correct. However this walking mental turd is invoking the State of Florida's law against animals biting humans and the poor croc who, by the way, was simply acting as nature hardwired him to is slated to be destroyed (I ask you, faithful reader: how would you feel if the Hot Dog Man stuck his finger in the roll and then had you sent to the chair for biting him?). AND! If you can believe THIS shit...he's suing the resort for not doing enough to protect him from the local wildlife!

...if we lived in a fair and just world, the fair people of Florida would be within their rights, as far as I'm concerned, to form a massive fucking posse, hunt this prick down, cover him in human-flavored jelly and throw his sorry ass back into the swamp for the croc to finish the job. And pin a giant fucking medal on that croc when he's done, for doing all the rest of us a giant fucking favor!

F@&* Barry Bonds

Allright...so it's been a little while since the last time I posted something for you all to read. Sorry. I know there's only three of you out there anyhow.

So to placate all the dissenters calling for something other than comics here we go...

Now first off, I want to preface this for all my friends, to whom I am generally regardedm as sports-stupid, and just say this: pay attention. For everyone else, I want to say this: Fuck Barry Bonds. No. Really. I'm now going to try to put this into more developed and coherent language but really, that's it: Fuck Barry Bonds and all those of his ilk.

Since you asked...here's my problem with Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds is still carrying on as if breaking Hank Aaron's record actually means anything anymore. And, apparently, it does. To all the fans and media and naysayers and prosayers and the lawmakers and the record keepers and the number crunchers and everyone else who's involved in this, fuck you too. Barry Bonds's pending smash of Hank Aaron's career home run record is crap. Here's my question: why are we still paying attention to this guy and why is noone talking about the fact that he used steroids to do what he, presumably, is about to do? And why is noone talking about this in terms of "well even if he does break the record, he'll still have an asterisk next to his name"?

And if noone is asking those questions, why do we, the people who pay money to see this scumbag play ball and turn him into some sort of hero for our kids who play ball, continue to give a crap about whether anyone in pro sports cheats or not? Because that's what this boils down to. You can't have it both ways. Either you mean what you say, practice what you say and punish this guy for cheating and polluting the sport which, in America today seems tantamount to religion, or you say what you say to look like you care about the right thing and then go on edifying the people you publicly decry.

That's what we've done with Barry Bonds and all the rest. We have set the rules: no performance-enhancing drugs of any kind. Presumably to preserve the notion that the Gods that now occupy our consciousness (i.e. the sports stars) in fact represent the pinnacle of human performance. We have sent the message: be the best, just so long as you are pure and these are the rules for being the best. And yet, when one of the Chosen is discovered to have disregarded those rules, we allow them to continue to play with minimal punishment. We have now sent a new message: forget the rules, what really matters is being the best, no matter what.

Now there are some that would disagree with me and say that Mr. Bonds is only human and is entitled to a mistake once in a while. And to a certain extent, I would agree. However, when you or I make a mistake, there are consequences. I don't see consequences of any substance here. I certainly don't see any regret. And I definitely see Mr. Bonds continuing as if nothing happened. In fact, it seems to me, he is being rewarded for his actions, as he is still regarded as the peak of hitting pefection, no matter what he did to acheive that.

Again, Mr. Bonds is not entirely to blame. I rest much of that blame on the shoulders of his fans that continue to support him, the sports media who continue to idolize him for their ratings and the team that continues to alolow him to play. My feeling, and I am sure I am in the minority here, is they should have taken this guy and all of his steroid taking friends and thrown them the hell out of baseball FOREVER and made them all work for a living.

I have no symapthy for this kind of stuff, in case you hadn't already figured that out. Everytime I see Bonds on television being commended for another home run or talking about when he is going to break the record, it makes me sick. Everytime I think of how criminally overpaid these guys are despite having broken the law, the ethics codes of their organizations and the hearts of millions of kids, I want to puke. The bottom line here, for me, is this: I think the only thing, in my mind, that would redeem Barry Bonds as a person, would be for him to retire prior to breaking the record. Or, at the very least, make a public acknowledgement that he recognizes that his acheivement is marred by his poor judgement.

But that's just me...

Six Months In

So the soccer endeavour is now six months in and the smoking thing is two & a half months out and the skills are starting to slowly improve. This session will mark a two games per week schedule, with games nights back to back on Wednesday and Thursdays. The rather interesting side effect here is that I have become obsessed. My beautiful wife and I watch FSC incessantly and we are considering discarding other, more important pieces of furniture in favor of a professional-grade foosball table. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it is a very exciting time to be watching futbol right now. Between the FA Cup finals, European Cup trials, Premiership regulation, Serie A and Mexican leagues all going, we almost forgot about the beginning of the MLS season and the debut of Beckham on American soil. Almost too much to watch!

Please Comment!!!

So I'm sitting here, working rather fruitlessly on a cover letter for a teaching position I'm applying for on Friday and needed a break. So I decided to check on the site to see if my father had been by to heckle me from the Comments Section and feel somewhat forlorn due to the lack of attention paid to my Comments Section.

And then my beautiful wife tells me that one of her friends checks the site but refuses to post comments until I write something about something other than comics as she claims she doesn't know anything about comics. So first off, point taken, James. I will write more about other topics.

However, and this goes for everyone who stops by for a spell,please comment, regardless of whether you think you know something about the subject matter or not. I beg you to do this for a couple of reasons: 1) it lets me know you're there and that someone is reading, 2) I value your feedback, good, bad or indifferent, 3) if you ask me a question I will answer it to the best of my ability and this may in fact contribute to or at least inform future entries and 4) it gives me a break from my father heckling me from the sidelines if someone else is doing it for a while.

The bottom line here is that a big part of the reason I created this blog was to get something "out there" and hopefully to get some feedback on my writing. This was started as an exercise and any feedback you can give helps me out enormously (yes, Dad, even the jabs about trying to get published).

But, at the end of the day, our friend is right as I had intended to post here on a variety of subjects and will try to mix it up a little for your reading and viewing pleasure.

Til next time...um...make mine Marvel...?

Required Reading: Invincible

Okay. I hadn't intended to ever talk about a superhero book here. Really. But I was at my friendly neighborhood comic store the other day and picked up a bunch of back issues of this book. And I have to say, it deserves mention. Bearing the byline "probably the best superhero comic book in the universe!" Invincible is certainly one of the best out there.

I started reading this book back when it first hit the shelves because of the art. Period. I like the stylized, clean lines, the primary colors, the fresh approach to the character's costume designs, the dynamic page layout. And then I started reading.

This is classic comic-book stuff. This is so classic, you already know the story. Young kid finds out he's in fact the bearer of great power. The moral struggle not to be tempted or corrupted by that power. All the secret identity gags. The monsters and robots and aliens and mad scientists bent on world domination or destruction (take your pick). The tangled love interest or interests. The nursery of supporting superheroes all waiting in the wings for their big chance. The drama between the hero and his non-super-hero-ing friends. I mean, all of it. And it's fucking GREAT!

Created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker and published by Image Comics, this book is definitely an illustration of the importance of craft. Taking on so many over-used and stale conventions of a spun-out genre and bringing new life and importance to that same genre, without coming across as spoof or copy-cat takes an immeasurable amount of skill. To make it relevant to both readers inside and outside the genre is just plain awesome. And that's precisely what Kirkman and Walker, and now Ryan Ottley having taken over permanently on pencils, have done here.

Whereas I wouldn't call it "the best...in the universe", I would rank it up there as one of the best superhero comics out there right now for a couple of reasons. First, and probably foremost, this book takes what made the superhero genre the mainstay of comics (that is to say everything good about them) and crams it all into one, slick, shiny, easy to swallow, great-tasting monthly pill. Invincible tackles all (and I do mean all...) the conventions of the superhero comic and not only doesn't get bogged down in them, it brings them new life and reminds us why we read them in the first place!

The character Invincible has powers reminiscent of Superman, personality close to Spiderman, and friends that would at turns feel at home in the pages of the X-Men, the Avengers, the Justice League of America, the Teen Titans or the Superfriends. The books' pacing and action and humor and, most importantly, humanity is reminicient of Jack Kirby and Will Eisner and Stan Lee and all the other legendary creators that made this medium worthwhile in the first place. Kirkman has managed to infuse his writing with a reality and three dimensional quality that seems lacking in many modern "realistic" books that confuse graphic violonce and overall moroseness with actual feeling. And the book gives us all this in a post-postmodern package that is hip and un-embarassing.

While Invincible may take everything good about superhero comics and mold it together, it also strips away much of the bad. For instance, there is no uncontrollable spin-off of titles. One of the things that makes mainstream comics so inane and inaccessible is that you need a frigging TomTom to navigate a given title. I mean how many X-titles and Bat-books can you really have? When I pick up a comic, I don't want to get half-way through and be told that in order to get the full story, I have to go back to the store and hunt down six other issues of six other titles. It's bullshit. Plain and simple. And it pisses people off. If I were new to this medium and I encountered that, I can tell you one thing: I would not only not buy the other six issues, I would never go back. Invincible is one title, one story and though many characters from other titles show up in its pages, it seems usually to be only for a short while to say "hi" and move on.

One of the reasons I stopped reading this back when and have now had to go back and catch up on what's been going on is that early on there were problems (to put it mildly) in getting issues to print. Although billed as a monthly book, I was finding myself waiting for the next issue for months at a time (another thing that would prevent me from ever picking up another comic book if I were a newbie and that I now just accept as part of the business). Thankfully, these timing issues seem to be largely a thing of the past and the back issues are blissfully packaged for you in trades (all named after sitcom titles, interestingly) and can be found at your local comic store http://www.comicbookresources.com/resources/locator/ as found with this trusty little tool.

In summation: for the unitiated among you, especially those of you who just don't get why a thirty-year old will still shell out hard-earned moolah for a flimsy, overpriced pamphlet of pictures about spandex-wearing fantasy-beings, check this out. This book is a reminder of how it once was and why comics, specifically superhero comics, are still around today. For those of you who still shell out that hard earned and know why, check it out, if you haven't already. You'll be surprised to remember just how good a superhero comic can be. I was.

Required Reading: 300

Please, please please please please. Read this book. The reason I'm pleading with you in so undignified a manner: I saw this movie this past week. What's worse, I took my wife to see this movie this past week. And I have to refer to earlier statements I and others have made. Namely: we, as a community and industry are alienating anyone that at one time may have given this medium a chance.

Look. I listed this graphic novel as one of my favorite books in my profile. I bought and read and sung this book's praises when it was first released in May 1998. I have three copies of all the original issues; one copy for myself, one to lend out and one just in case. And I have the hard cover. Frank Miller and his work has been one of the primary reasons I continue to read comics and among his work, I rank this peice at the top. Needless to say, I'm a fan. In other words, I'm less than objective here.

300 (Fank Miller / Lynn Varley; Dark Horse Comics, 1999, $30.00; http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=48-339) is a graphic re-telling of the Battle of Thermopylae, focussed on King Leonidas and the 300 Spartan warriors that set out to stop the Persian hordes of Xerxes the Great at the Hot Gates. Upon its release, 300 received Eisner Awards for Best Limited Series, Best Writer/Artist and Best Colorist in 1999. The series continued Miller's stark and unique vision that he established most fully in his Sin City series while bringing a new dynamic to comics in the well-researched historical drama of ancient Greece.

The themes of this book, though seemingly macho and mundane, are appropriate for the given subject matter and it is widely seen as well-researched and overall historically accurate in its telling. It is at turns, engaging, intriuging and suspenseful, violent and heroic and overall remarkable. Miller and Varley both, in an attempt to get it that much closer to right, travelled to Greece to flesh out the research they'd already done, visit the sites, gain an appreciation for the land and speak to the people. ...all in the name of getting it right. Of making sure that the story did justice to the notions of heroic sacrifice and moral victory that are embodied here.

And the movie took an amazing peice of work, a jewel of the industry, and shat upon it. I don't actually know what Mr. Miller's thoughts are on this movie, though I assume he had a pretty big part in the making of it, given his involvement in Sin City. I can't imagine that the folks responsible for this film intetionally cocked it up. And there are quite a few redeeming qualities. The photography is amazing. I think it works much better in color than in the black-and-white of Sin City. The acting, for the most part was worthwhile, though in places a bit melodramatic. And, to be fair, they did a better than average job translating it to film.

So what, then, is the problem? you ask? It is this: in the editing room and production room decisions that were made on this project, the point was almost completely passed over in favor of a violent fantasy movie rather than the complex and fascinating historical narrative that was the book. I saw gratuity take the place of complexity and subtlety (I'm thinking here of the splashing blood shots and the treatment of the Oracle at the temple). Embellishment in places where there was none needed (the monstrous masks and visages of the Persian elite). And a quick treatment of the main themes of the book in the trite delivery of several of the more important lines seemed more filler as opposed to the actual substance.

So, my recommendation is this: please please please please please read this book. Do yourself a favor and pick up one of Frank Miller's best works and what I see as a pretty big argument to continue reading comics, and forget there's even a movie by the same name out there. Besides, I'm sure it will be a mainstay of SpikeTV within a year anyhow...

Required Reading

So. It's been awhile again and I have no excuse. We'll leave it at that...

Recently I've been bouncing a product idea around in regards to the way the comics industry operates and supposedly attracts new readers. It seems to me that the big ones, the major publishers (DC and Marvel, if you're reading this from outside the comics world)are very concerned with the sales of their various superhero comics and trying to rehash the same old story lines from the same old characters and leaving the books themselves overall stale, contrite and used. Then they option the rights for a cut-rate movie that panders to the fan-base and pretends to be accessible to a wider audience and fails in both attempts.

Many of you who have grown up reading comics and whose tastes have matured as you've grown older and those of you who are trying to check out what's going on in comics 'cause there was a review in the Washington Post know what I'm talking about here: you walk into a comics shop where you're accosted by all 31 flavors of superheroes in primary color spandex fighting stereotyped villians with cheesy dialogue. If you're lucky, you manage to pick up a somewhat literary and tongue-in-cheek strip down of the superhero genre. But if you're not paying attention or don't know where to look or are afraid to ask the self-righteous prat behind the counter (beg pardon of all those comics store clerks who sagely and generously guided me toward the "good stuff" in my graphic storytelling education; there are a lot of you out there), chances are you'll completely miss all the amazing work out there that speaks to something other than sheer escapism and melodrama because it's all in a corner somewhere not very well lit and not very well organized and not very well stocked.

It comes down to this: on the off chance that someone that didn't grow up reading comics and doesn't (god forbid) know the difference between the first three incarnations of the Dark Knight's sidekick (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd and Tim Drake in case any of you doubt my geek cred) happens to get interested and walk into a shop to check things out, given the way we treat our artform, those folks are going to turn around and walk right back out, having been proved right about the immaturity of the comics, the fans and whole Shazam! We've succeeded in proving many critics right in focussing on dying genres, outdated methods of thinking and publishing and making it next to impossible for potential new readers to come into the medium with an appreciation.

Now the question for that potential reader maybe is not a matter of "what happened in the last ten years of the X-men that I need to know in order to understand all the in-jokes in this issue?" or better phrased "what could I be reading?" but instead should be "what should I be reading?" And that is the crux of this idea: a conveniently packaged prestige-format, library-style collection of the milestone comics that illustrate what the industry could be and have elevated the medium to an artform. I took the idea from two places: 1) in Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan, to which I owe a large debt of gratitude, Mr. Ellis included in his letters page homework assignments of various books he felt were relevant and worth reading. This segment was called Required Reading. Hope you don't mind the slight theft... 2) There is a collection of movies released under the The Criterion Collection label which collects, remasters, adds all sorts of neat bonus features and repackages those movies that they feel epitomize the medium. ...and this is the spirit in which I start this (hopefully) weekly review--reviewing those comics and graphic novels that you should be reading...

I'm starting off not with a classic, but rather with a potential classic. Published under DC's Vertigo imprint, DMZ written by Brian Wood and pencilled by Riccardo Burchielli is required reading. Brian Wood has been self-publishing through AIT/PlanetLar for a number of years and only last year brought DMZ to one of the majors. DMZ is the story of a fledgling journalist stranded in the demilitarized zone of Manhatten island in a fictional civil war-gripped America set mere weeks from now. In the wake of several overseas armed conflicts, the American government neglects the rising tide of Middle American militias that quickly rise and push their way across the country seizing power and support as they go, only to coem to a grinding halt at New York City.

In this near future tale, Matty Roth, a journalist's asistant thrust unwittingly into the spotlight by his media-icon boss's death in Manhatten. Matty finds that not only does he now have to worry about staying alive in the DMZ as it's called, but he finds himself as the only major network correspondent in New York, wrestling with the reality of what he is witness to and what he has been told to believe about the way of the world as it is now.

This on-going series (the first 12 issues of which are collected into two tradepaperback volumes, On the Ground $9.99US and Body of a Journalist $12.99US) is compelling, honest work that begs the audience to look at the ramifications of the present beyond our windows and the consequences of that presents' choices lurking just out of sight on the next corner. This book is interested not so much in the story of Matty as in the plight of America and casts a dark mirror up to our perceptions of the armed conflicts in which we as a nation are already engaged and the media infrastructure in place that supports and propagagates our government's decisions.

Masterfully narrated by Wood, this book is focused and is is visually supported and enhanced by Burchielli's gritty, arresting visual storytelling. The two comine their respective crafts in a graphic novel that will appeal to life-long comics fans and new readers alike and will hold the attention of anyone with an even passing interest in current events.

Described by the Washington Post, DMZ "gut-wrenchingly portrays the chaotic reality of life in a war zone." This book questions the nature of what we as a nation believe and expect from our government and our media. DMZ: On the Ground and DMZ: Body of a Journalist both belong on your bookshelf within easy reach. This is required reading for next week kids. Try to keep pace...

Anime, Shm-anime

...okay, okay. I know that anime is the only worthwhile animation around right now for kids and adult geeks alike, but I've gotta say--enough. I'm all for anime in it's best form, i.e. Samurai Champloo, Akira, Steamboy, Porco Rossi and Princess Monoke. But that's really about it. I find the rest of it pretty mundane at best and downright bollocks at worst. And I find the current craze amongst comic fans downright depressing. Instead of going after the best across the board, I see people picking up every mediocre offering out of Japan and worse, fake anime from domestic poseur creators, regardless of quality. Meanwhile I see a lot of worthwhile work being passed by and domestic comic and animation sales drying up.

Here's my take on it. Anime and Manga (the print version of anime) is the media incarnation of fast-food. Just like Micky-Dee's, you have basically the same flavor at every stop and the only difference comes down to individual stores being managed better or worse. From what I've seen, the stories are mainly redundant and the artwork looks so similar that you can't tell one creator from another with some rare exceptions.

Having said that, I have two notable home grown alternatives. First off, check out Avatar: the Last Airbender. Though the form takes liberally from Anime, there is definitely much more creativity and dimension given both to the look and the story, taking from several Asian traditions and mythologies and adding a healthy dose of technology and quest-type adventure, Avatar has strong maleand female characters, morally complicated story lines and three-dimensional villinas. The lessons the cartoon delivers are not only relevant and decidedly un-preachy (no "...and knowing is half the battle! Yo Joe!" in this afterschool offering) but also involve the viewer in the moral decision making.

The second reccommendation is actually two: Ben 10 and Teen Titans. As a fan of all things retro-futuristic, Ben 10 and the Teen Titans supply all the stylized, flashy and three-color glory of the pulps and comic books of days past. Both recall the era that gave us the originals from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Seigel and Shuster, Bob kane and all the rest. Throw in a liberal dose of Cold War-era paranoia, giant monster chic and 50s pop illustration and you've got it. Both shows look fantastic, are genuinely engaging and strip away the convuluted, thousand-character casts of many of the comics out there right now.

So Long 2006, You Damned Dirty Dog

I can't really say that I'm all that sad to see the Year of the Dog wind down to an end with a whimper, though we did have some high points. To wit: 2006 saw Maggie and Coltrane join the human race and shed their previous embryonic mantles, the Republicans get the boot in Congress (though I'm not real sure how I feel about a government run by a bunch of jackasses...I mean Donkeys), the Pirates gear up for another run at the Calder Cup and the car still runs, sort of...

...however, I found little of Dog's supposed loyalty, friendship and protection in 2006, but rather a dirty, foul-smelling, vicious little cur snarling out of the corner. I can't say I'm all that sorry to see it go and am looking forward to 2007.

But enough prattle about a zodiac I know far too little about to credibly rant about. I realize it's been a little while and we have some catching up to do. First: as I mentioned breifly, 2006 saw the entrance into the human race of my neice Maggie, native of Colombus, GA and nephew in spirit Coltrane, native of Las Vegas, NV. I wish them both long, happy, interesting lives and give their respective parents fair warning: the kid-sized drums are already in the mail, 'cuz that's hows I rolls! Think of it this way: a well-rested parent really isn't doing their job properly. And I'm just here to help.

Next up, WFC Dominion, as I'll forthwith refer to the team, finished Session 1 with a valiant record of 0 - 7 - 1 and came dangerously close to advancing past the first round of the playoffs. We suffered short rosters, too-large rosters, injuries all the way around and insult and injury. And had a pretty good time. This Session, three games in, has seen the defection of several key play-makers, a chronic groin pull (not to be confused with chronic pud-pulling), a sprained ankle, a bruised thigh, weak ankles, a torn Achilles tendon, several substitutions and one high-order humiliation at the hands of a mostly high-school age team that was far too polite for their own good or our own pride. Doesn't sound too promising, I know, however we have in three games managed to out-score our total "goals for" statistic from last session and despite a multitude of injuries are beginning to show promise in the teamwork, skills and drive departments.

As this post marks the first contribution to 2007 I will briefly address resolutions. I do not, as a rule make resolutions any longer and have not since breaking every single one of them in second grade. However I have resolved to write more, spend less time in front of the idiot tube and produce more work. How that's relevant to this, is it means there will be more to read. I started this to hone skills I have not used in far too long. As such, I welcome any criticism and/or comment you may have in following my seemingly pointless meanderings.

In any case...there will be more to follow...