I don't wish to alarm you...

...but this comic is hilarious.  However, I'm recommending that unless you're a big fan of ridiculous penis jokes, the rest of that comic's archive should be avoided.

I can ride my bike...

There's only 5 months down in 2008, and we already have a winner for the "Best Song of 2008" award. This one is, of course, in the running for All Time Greatest Song Ever award, which I will be handing out when people quit making music.

Meanwhile, here's the Flobots with Handlebars....actually you're going to have to type that into google, because I'm sending this post via email, and i can't embed video or links in the ole email...or can I? I also like this song, although I think the singer is trying to be weirder than she really is...how weird can you be with perfect studio editing? If you listen to the song without the video, it doesn't sound weird at all, but I still kinda like it. I think this is me admitting that I've been listening to too many absolutely hideous radio stations since I moved to the middle of the country. Pretty much anything sounds amazing when your options have been Metallica, ANOTHER spin of "Life is a Highway" or that stupid Alicia Keys song again (just shoot me). If there's one thing the main-stream music radio stations have got down, it is how to turn a perfectly fine song like this one into a reason for me to drive my truck into a ditch. Other good music? What, there's other good music out there? How about the fact that I still think Jack White has resurrected Kurt Cobain (girl....you got those hands...that heal!)?

I'm alone right now, in the center of the country, with wife and child slightly to the left on the map of USA, but I will soon be soaring over their heads and moving slightly N, to arrive at the home state of Mormon-ville. Aside from inland salt waters, that's about all I know about where I'm going, so I guess I don't know anything. Oh, and I still haven't practiced my talk...so lucky people in my audience. Fortunately, my talk isn't until the last day...so no one will be there anyway.

When I'm alone, I tend to play the music really loud, and I just started up another song...you know how volume is on youtube (variable from song-to-song)...wow. I almost got knocked out of my chair....that was a little too loud.

Other stuff

- What, I've been away from Webcomics for too long? I'm just going to point you at this bit of awesome (that everyone's probably already seen), this surprising poignant bit of observation, of course the cool three-parter from Penny Arcade, I'm kinda interested in trying this sometime, I think this is about the whooping cranes, and is probably pretty honest. And I know its the in thing right now, but here's another comic about the semi-hilarious war between hang-glider pilots and helicopter pilots.
Of course, nobody is more scornful of cliche than I, and this is why.

- The NBA. I'm torn, I really am. On the one hand, I've hated Kobe Bryant for so long I'm not even sure I remember why it began. Oh yeah, it was when he was such a whiny baby over the course of his entire career. On the other hand, I hate the Spurs tremendously. There's nothing I wanted to see more in their first round series against the Suns than Shaq accidentally breaking Tony Parker's hand in five places ala Bobby Jackson. But no...we couldn't have that happen, could we. And then we couldn't have the most exciting semi-finals imaginable with a Derron William/Chris Paul matchup. And we couldn't even get the Paul-Kobe supermatch. No...we have to watch the freaking Spurs and Lakers, again. And frankly, the Spurs are huge underdogs. I don't know how they managed to beat the Hornets, cuz I didn't get to watch those games, but they've got no shot at all against the Lakers.
Which sucks, because nobody else has any chance against the Lakers either, unless Tayshaun Prince suddenly turns back the clock 3 years.
So who am I rooting for now? The Spurs and Pistons? Excuse me? The worst Finals imaginable. A Finals that would remind everyone why every summer I decide: That's it, I'm done with the NBA. A Spurs are, in general, a crime against basketball, and the Pistons are borderline ridiculous. So I guess I'm rooting for the Lakers-Celtics matchup, which would bring out so much 80s nostalgia that I might have to ignore the Finals anyway.
Did this ramble get anywhere? No, probably not. I guess I'm rooting for the Lakers, because Pau and Lamar have always been awesome, and it would be cool if they ever got recognized for how good they are (not to mention Farmer).
But let's just keep this straight Spurs. There was a time when I was in your corner, when I rooted for your team against the dreaded Lakers, when I believed your triumph meant the chokehold of the NBA dark ages was over. But you spoiled that by turning Bruce Bowen from a solid defender to a cheap-shot artist, when the Duncan face became more important to your success than anything else, when you hired Robert f***ing Horry. While the Lakers are like some kind of damned vampire that can't be killed, only wounded, you are more like a zombie. You are hard to kill, but that doesn't mean you're alive.

I fought authority and authority got bent...

I always realize new things about myself. As I was driving home today, I thought about my frustration with so much of the world, and realized that a lot of it probably boils down to one thing: I really, really, hate being told what to do. I can't think of a single authority figure in my life (advisers, bosses, parents, teachers, etc.) who could tell me what to do without me getting irritated.

For instance, once I was sitting in a lab meeting and my adviser said that from now on, he wanted us to send him a short little summary of what we talked about in our one-on-one meetings. This makes a lot of sense, but it pissed me off for two reasons. One was a sort-of pride issue: why should I record our meetings when it was always the adviser who couldn't remember what we'd talked about last time (Answer: Because advisers always feel as if your time is less valuable than theirs.). But that's just pride talking, the real reason it irritated me was because, damnit don't tell me what to f***ing do! (I didn't say this made a lot of sense)

This has been a ubiquitous feature of my life. I simply can't work at many jobs, because I simply can't handle being told what to do all the time. In high school I didn't turn in my homework. Sure, I was lazy, but I was also annoyed that someone thought I needed to do homework. If I needed to do homework, I'd do it, thank you very much. Otherwise bugger off.

As I continued to think about this I realized something else: I implicitly value the opinion of my peers. I'm willing to call up and ask a friend for advice about any subject, and I really really value that advice.

My last job (Oklahoma) started off great because nobody was telling me what to do. I just did the research I wanted, and didn't pay any attention to anyone else. But then I started getting told what to do...all the time. And then I started realizing the guy telling me what to do was a crazy jerk.

My job now is pretty fantastic because nobody is really telling me what to do specifically. Certainly there's a lot of oversight in theory, but in practice I'm just doing whatever I want. I feel as if I am extremely productive this way as well. I think I'm doing a great job. Even when the boss needs to tell me what to do, he goes about it by saying something like "I think we ought to have a meeting with everyone in the group so that we're all on the same page." And then the meeting is more like a discussion.

Other thoughts:

- Alton is so cute.

- Basic Instructions for life. Hilarious.

- I'm listening to the Manchurian Candidate on my drive to work. Boring. But still better than radio.

Webcomic Revue: HandRooster

Let's see if we can do this.

Handrooster is written by Mark and Steph Adams. The artwork is stick-figure, and so the comic shares a long and storied tradition with other internet artwork. Right now the strip is in its infancy, having apparently started in March. The strip that first caught my attention was the fantastic I'm a Bot. This is actually why I like webcomics in general. Unlike newspaper strips, webcomics tend to turn the conventional perspective on its head.

Some criticism of this comic has come because some people think it is a knock-off of xkcd. While it is true that the stick figures, and the stick figure with a hat, is also in xkcd, the similarity ends there. Handrooster seems to be following closely the Holy Trinity of Webcomics, violence, randomness, and videogames. In fact, they sometimes all happen in the same strip (as in Alpha Geek).

Reviewing this comic may be premature. The style of the strip is still evolving, both artistically and scripting. There are recurring characters, and there is some nerd humor, but the whole thing feels like it could go in a lot of different directions. Considering the huge number of strips that are being produced every day, the ones that have some potential ought to be embraced early. The strip will sink or swim based on the jokes and character development, but right now, the jokes are just mediocre.

Writing/Plot: 2.5/5. Well, the jokes are often lame, but the ones that are funny are very funny. I'm optimistic that things are improving through time.
Artwork: 3/5. I think this is just about the maximum I can give for a comic employing stick figures. I really think the artwork is as good as can be expected, and serves the written part of the strip well.
Website Presentation: 2.5/5. So I really don't like this website design. You are always on either the blog or comic half of the site, and the individual strips don't appear to be linked to the blog posts accompanying them. Am I missing something? Also, the archive is not searchable, and breaks apart by month.

Overall: 3.5/5. Despite the fact that I didn't give this high of a rating in any category, I genuinely enjoy this strip. Maybe it has to do with first impressions (that I am a Bot strip is great!), but this feels like one that could be really good.

Drugs, sickness and the Webcomic Revue

First of all, I have a sore throat. One of those really painful, I don't want to talk or breath kind of sore throats. If you were expecting a phone call from me today, you're not getting. In lieu of that:

Happy Father's Day Dad and Grandpa! I really wish I could talk.

Secondly, let's start a new feature entitled Webcomic Revue.

I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to Simulated Comic Product. The author identifies himself as 'Kevin', and the strip has been running for at least a couple of years. This isn't a strip with recurring characters or continuous story-lines. Most strips are full-color and stretch across far more page than you'd expect from a traditional comic strip. Remember, the holy trinity of webcomic memes are violence, randomness, and video games. Simulated Comic Product makes heavy use of the randomness and violence part of the trinity.

For instance, this example of SCP goodness shows the full-color, size, and wackiness of the strip. Although, I do have to wonder just what is spraying in panel 5. The other recurring theme of SCP is a dark hook. That is, the last panel often recasts all the trivial or friendly material from the earlier panels into a different, darker light. As in this strip entitled Hospitality or this very recent one entitled Eager Recruits. Occasionally this can get really confusing, as in the strip Labour Relations. Other times, the strips are just plain dark.

Writing/Plot: 4/5. The numerous scenarios created by the author are usually quite entertaining and often thought-provoking as well. They definitely illustrate the rather limited way we often see the world.
Artwork: 4/5. The style has evolved, but is now quite flexible. The artwork creates the idea without having a lot of details, making the details that are important subtle. Full-color is worth bonus points in my book.
Website Presentation: 2.5/5. Standard layout for most webcomic sites. Strips are shown one at a time. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles, and apparently there are no books or t-shirts available. Advertising is unobtrusive.

Overall: I give this webcomic a 4 out of 5. I try to keep up-to-date on it, and I frequently browse through the archives.

What's going on?

So.

The NBA Finals don't start until Thursday.

THURSDAY!!!

How the hell am I supposed to make it until THURSDAY!

Other stuff:

- Webcomics: I just found a really cutesy, cat-oriented webcomic called Mows (it is a flash site, which I hate, but..). I didn't even know 'cute' was a term you could associate with webcomics. I mean, really...a 'cute' webcomic? What planet am I living on?

- Friday's a big day. In a week or two I'll mention why.

- For some reason I am experiencing extremely low self-esteem lately. I wonder why? Oh maybe because I suck at everything I do. Of course, that's never bothered me before...

- We have a baby shower this weekend. And apparently there might be windsurfing. I don't think these are related.

- I have to go back to the lab now...moo.