On A Very Nerdy Birthday Request

In which a new birthday request is granted, a list is made, and things get geeky.


My friend Brendan, aka B-Carl, aka Beez, aka Professor Beezley¹, made a request for a birthday blog post. His request: "Why Marvel is better than DC." If you didn't know, these are two comic book companies. Marvel is responsible for: Iron Man, Spider-Man, the X-men, and the Avengers. DC is responsible for: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman².

You're about the reach your geek quota for the day. Hold on to your butts.

Top Ten Reasons Marvel is Better than DC³.

Number 10: Runaway teenagers fight crime with their psychic dinosaur.

Number 9: Luke Cage and Dr. Doom have a frank discussion⁴. 

Number 8: Criminal, some of the best stories I've ever read, in any medium.

Number 7: Syllable counting heroes = adorable.  

Number 6: Mustache buddies.

Number 5, Part I: You are going to want to make this big...

Number 5, Part II: Seriously, it's insane⁵.

Number 4: I love that the dudes watch their friend get kicked through a train.

Number 3: Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy, I don't need to add anything else.

Number 2: Stop. Deadpool time.

Number 1: Kate Beaton does Marvel!

__________________________________________________________
¹ Okay, so no one has called him this. Yet...
² Some real original names these authors came up with
³ In no particular order
⁴ Ah the 70's.
⁵ And I don't mean that the art is insanely good, though it is, I mean that it's something a crazy person would dream up

On Birthday Wishes

In which the long standing tradition of writing a blog post for a birthday continues.


We are fast approaching February the second. Which, as any long time readers will know, means that the topic for this week's post was suggested by my good friend Seth Rowe¹. Previous examples can be found here and here².

This year, when I asked Seth what he would like me to write about he asked me to have "a point-counterpoint blog about television. one pro-television and one anti-television³" that would span across two different blogs. I thought about it, considered who I would turn to to act as the second blogger⁴, thought about what I would say for each side of the argument, and then (in keeping with the birthday-blog tradition) took the idea and ran with it⁵.

Here's what I came up with. Happy Birthday Seth⁶.

Click on the images to make them bigger.

It is probably not all that surprising, but my view on the issue is a combination of both of the main characters monologues. Hope you enjoyed my arts⁷.
__________________________________________________________
¹ I'd link you to Seth's blog, but he doesn't blog frequently enough, so I've enacted a linking embargo
² The links are chronological
³ Quote courtesy of our G-Chat
⁴ Since I usually use Sarah Street's blog as a muse I was going to ask her to co-author with me
⁵ Like in a good game of charades, taking ideas and running with them Jimmy Mann style is a cornerstone of this blog
⁶ Isn't it amazing that I was able to fit so many footnotes into such a small block of text?
⁷ If you'd ever like your birthday present to be a blog post all you have to do is ask

On Filling a Gap With History and Humor

In which apologies are given, pictures shared and laughs had, hopefully.

So due to completely foreseen circumstances¹ I was unable to get last weeks blog post put up.  It is currently about three quarters of the way finished.  I will most likely spend some time this week making some changes and streamlining it as it is running a little long already.  However, I didn't want two weeks to pass between posting so I figured that I would write something shorter now and then finish up the post I have started for later in the week.

History and I have always had an interesting relationship.  I really enjoy learning about and discussing the past.  Which, I imagine, surprises some people since I will often avoid really intense historical/political conversations and documentaries.  But there is something about the past that just grabs me, especially when history and pop culture collide².

This last week at work, or at least at the first half of work³, I had a lot of free time on my hands so I decided to check out Hark! A Vagrant.  I had heard about this site a number of times over the last few years and I have to say it is pretty rad.  Kate Beaton, the author, is a cartoonist who also enjoys history and so she started an online comic about that very subject.  I thought I'd share some of my favorites in an attempt to persuade you to check it out.

Let's all agree that a) it would be cool to hang out with St. Francis of Assisi and 2) birds bringing you muffins would be way rad.

Fourth of July, as see by a canuck.

Beaton doesn't always interact with history:

And part 2:

And sometimes she doesn't even deal with history (ps this is probably my favorite of all of her work).

I would totally read a longer story with mystery solving teens.

So that was Hark! A Vagrant.  Hope you enjoyed it, you should check it out right here.  You won't be disappointed, I promise.

Back soon with a game that I created.
____________________________________________________________
¹ I knew that I would be working a ton, and had a bachelor on Friday and Saturday so things just didn't get done when I wanted them to.
² See http://bravodeploysatchmo.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-war-on-film.html
³ Last week and this week I have been working two jobs.  One at Jackson Creek M.S. and also at a summer camp program.  It has been exhausting to say the least.