DOCTOR WHO - US STYLEE

Here's the US trailer for S6, enjoy



ht: Bleeders

DOCTOR WHO 2011

Here's the trailer

CHRISTMAS GEEK HITS

Hope you all have a great day tomorrow. Merry Christmas.

First up:
Zombie Santa



How to survive a Zombie Christmas


Star Wars Christmas Special (no not that one, I wouldn't be so cruel!)




HT: Geeks, Adam Hughes and Combom

SNOWTROOPERS

Apparently it wasn't just the rebels which made the Empire go to Hoth:




More here

THE FORCE IS WITH US

Read this story on CNN, most of you probably already have but I am still playing catch-up and it is a heartwarming story for all geeks before Christmas.

I've been a geek all my life but I was lucky, I was OK at sport and big so bullying wasn't an issue for me.

My daughter, 6, blond with glasses,had to wear an eyepatch like Katie, loves Doctor Who and used to get a bit of stick at school - Doctor Who is for boys you see.

However, each week there's usually a photo of, or a picture by, a girl in Doctor Who Adventures comic and each week I say to the sprog: "See you are not alone. Stick with it."

So to all geek girls out there who are worried, don't be.

You're not alone, stick with it.

pic ht: Geeks

FIREFOX

I use Firefox, millions do...so, if you're bored attm:
1- Open Firefox
2- Type ' about:robots ' into the address bar
3- Hit enter

Or:

1- Open Firefox
2- Type ' about:mozilla '
3- Hit enter

ht: Geeks

GEEK HITS

First up a look at Sinestro from the upcoming Green Lantern film:

HT: Comics Continuum

Next from the Beeb: Doctor Who clips, not long now!









Finally some shocking footage from Geeks. I agree with the Geeks, LUCAS HOW COULD YOU? THIS IS BLASPHEMY OF THE HIGHEST ORDER

REVOLTING STUDENTS

I have a few friends who are definitely in the left camp and one of them asked me what I thought of the student demos yesterday.

The only thing I could say to him was: "Well who's going to pay if not students?"

I also challenged him about whether he would be willing to pay more tax so students could get a so-called higher education - he declined.

At the end of the day, this is what it boils down to - who exactly is paying?

It is not government money, it is ours, the taxpayers.

Feel free to volunteer to pay for hairdresser degrees if you agree with the student protests but with a family to look after, tax demands and bills, don't come knocking on door!

YOU'RE THOR?

OK been away for a bit

here's the official trailer for Thor

GREEN LANTERN

Oh to be in the States

I have been a fan of Green Lantern since I was a wee kid and the new film has scared the bejeezus out of me as well as excited me.

Anyway, a trailer for an Entertainment Today:

THE DUDE

Excellent news from Steve Rude. I posted a while ago about him trying to save his house.

He has now posted on Facebook:
Well, it’s nice to know we still have a nice house to live in.

In fact, thanks to this amazing “save the house” fundraiser you contributed to, we were even able to order a few extra art supplies for the Dude. Perhaps the most shocking of all–we may have enough left over to supplement the Sillies Emergency Diaper Fund. Yes, they still have their accidents.

When I saw the bread coming in after Gino made her announcement (this was unbeknownst to the oblivious Dude), I was, and still am, in a mild state of stupefication. The outpouring of generosity was clearly far beyond what Gino and I could’ve asked for. Your contributions poured in from all corners of our planet; the sizeable backstock of comics and Dude related “higher reading paraphernalia” were ordered by the spit-load; and Erik Larson bought his complete Next Nexus 3 issue!

All said, we saved the house.

Perhaps most exciting for the self-minded Dude, Gino has just informed me is that we can now afford to replace my 15 yr-old xerox machine–y’know, the one that broke down and has been gathering dust in my studio for 2 years–with a “refurbished” model. And since this was something that I use every day in every way, it is utterly invaluable to me. Though the Rude Dude experiment is temporarily laid to rest, I march forward with my current gallery-style paintings and the many challenging commissions you fans have requested over the last year, the likes of which one can see on my website and Facebook page. I always like hearing the comments on every newly produced work.

To continue getting back on our feet, the Dude 2011 Commissions Calendar is complete and ready to order, and a new Rude Dude Sketchbook is underway.

In stupefying appreciation,

I remain,

Mr. Humility, the Dude Himself,

I would ht Rich and the bleeders but since he didn't give me that courtesy over the original post, I think nah!

DOCTOR WHO

So what did happen after Amy came onto the Doctor?


See more here

STUDENTS ARE REVOLTING

Dear oh deary me. Stoodents are smashing up Millbank in protest at the education fees.

I have said time and time again that this is not the right way to advance higher education. There are too many students doing too many ridiculous courses. There is never a good reason why 50% of 18 year olds should be going to University except to massage the job figures.

WE need a return to Uni, poly, higher ed colleges and apprenticeships if we are to finally succeed in making a decent future for all.

By chucking people into hairdressing degrees for three years, we are depriving them and the universities.

That is what students should be protesting about, not the fees.

GEEK HITS

OK lets start trying to catch up with things:

First up Lego Star wars 3D fillum


Star Trek first promo pic?


Tron legacy trailer


HT: Geeks

AYIEEEEEEEEEE

In...total...state...of...disbelief

According to bloody disgusting Zac Efron, him off High School Musical, is going to play Kaneda in the American remake of Akira.

And the action is going to shift from New-Tokyo to the States.

Gobsmacked, well and truly gobsmacked!

INTERNET UPDATE

Give...me....strength!

Another 8 days away

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

internet update

Not that anyone cares but the engineer was round this morning:

"Erm, because it is not a BT line, erm, it will not go on until 5pm"

>B(

And we pay for these services?

Halloween

Let me share with you this lovely post from a friend of mine who spent the walk round with the sprogs last night in slight amazement of the ramshakled nature of Halloween in the UK:

Here, Halloween is an unusual experience.

The local conservation association circulated a flyer, printed on orange paper, to explain how it all works:

"Halloween: what is it?
Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the 31st of October, in which children dress up and go door to door collecting sweets."

Seriously. If you live in a country where Halloween is a given, consider yourself fortunate. There are many, many people here who simply do not understand the concept.

Read the rest here

SAYS IT ALL REALLY

A quickie post, hopefully fully back on line tonight (crossed fingers)
A lovely typo in the Telegraph online
Quoting Cameron on the budget rise:

"At a time when we are making painful decisions at home to put our economy back on track I will now allow Brussels to derail us."

Indeed!

MOVING AND MALWARE

Double hit for me attm.

Firstly a vicious piece of malware - Antiviral2010 - got into my laptop and having tried isolating it and failing, I am now having to reboot the entire damn thing - not happy.

Secondly, we have moved so have no broadband for, oh, at least two weeks. Apparently, in this world of instant information and mass computer technology, I cannot simply have an exchange push a button. Nope! And I am not allowed to put the wi-fi box in myself either, Nope! No, I have to wait at least 15 days and have an engineer come round. Why? I have no idea.

Still, makes me nolstalgic for the days when the post office would deliver your phone and install it...not.

BEING HUMAN

OK I have dissed the idea of this before but a photo has been released. To be fair, at least the wash-out is accurate!



ht: io9

GEEK HITS

Stare at the centre for 30 seconds then look away!


A Philosoraptor


ht: Geeks

THE EMPEROR'S CLOTHES

Marvellous!

Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California Harold Lewis has resigned from the American Physical Society in protest of its slavish devotion to the Climate Change economy and its lack of scientific procedures.

Here's the full letter:

Dear Curt:
When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?

How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example:

1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate

2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer “explanatory” screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.

3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work.

4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind—simply to bring the subject into the open.<

5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members’ interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.

6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.

APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?

I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people’s motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don’t think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I’m not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question.

I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.
Hal

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President’s Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety
Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making)

Ht:Telegraph

LIFE UNIVERSE & EVERYTHING

Today could be the day that the answer to Life, Universe & Everything could be solved.

Why?

Well it's 10/10/10 and in binary 101010 = 42

Now where did I put my towel?


ht: Geeks

MY EYES

Um, yeah, enjoy...I think

DOCTOR WHO

More mini-bits are coming out about the Christmas Special:

TOYS OUT OF A PRAM

So the unions are threatening 'French style strikes' over the prospect of their pensions being altered.

I have said over and over again that we cannot afford the public sector (PS) pensions bill. WE couldn't ten years ago and we certainly can't now.

The reason why PS got good pensions was that traditionally PS was poorly paid, jobs for life.

But...

Since Labour got in, PS outstripped the private sector in terms of pay and conditions.

So what is the excuse for brilliant pensions?

Apparently some PS workers are still poorly paid.

Well, y'know what, so are some private sector workers. But they are not going to get the taxpayer to fund their retirement.

So why should PS expect the taxpayer to do so?

You are not some special breed that needs credit and protection. You, in essence, are people who do not generate wealth for this country, you spend the wealth of the nation.

So what makes you so special?

Oh and to the unions, 'French-style strikes'? Fair enough, but on one condition, we should be allowed to have Gendarmerie-styled response to these threats.

Remember, if you throw all your toys out of a pram, you will end up with no toys.

ONE OF US

According to the Bish, Miss Snuffy, aka Katharine Birbalsingh who spoke so passionately about how the State education system has failed children at the Tory conference, has been sent to work from home - suspension by any other term.

Now it should be pointed out that there could have been breaches of child confidentiality but I do suspect that it will be the hook to hang her on because she dared to speak out.

Once again we see how the orthodoxy outweighs any such high minded ideals like, erm, free speech.

Time and time again I have argued that free speech is not a pic n mix, either everyone has it or no one has it.

The left-wing educational establishment freely allows its Marxists to criticise, threaten and cajole us all but as soon as one stands up and says the Emperor has no clothes, the principle of free speech goes out of the window.

Miss Snuffy was no longer "one of us" and had to be punished.

Once more the educational orthodoxy fails children. Instead of looking at the issues behind the critique and looking inside itself to see how there are a bunch of feckless, ruthless kids who are barely able to read and write, it punishes those that fail to tow the line.

It is the educational establishment that should be sent home, not a teacher who's passion for teaching has led her to 'out' herself at the Tory conference in the belief that children should come first.

UPDATE: Dizzy has pointed out that the head teacher at Snuffy's school allowed Blair to use her school to launch his 2001 election campaign!

And to quote Iain Dale:

Quentin Letts's new book "Letts Rip!" includes an account of the day Bishop allowed her south London school to be used by Tony Blair for the launch of the 2001 general eleciton campaign. It notes that "Mrs Bishop is a fanatical Blairite who considers him the most wonderful Prime Minister in the world".
The piece describes how Blair used Bishop's school remorselessly for political ends. For Birbalsingh now to be accused of political agitation is unbelievably hypocritical.

Indeed!

PIXIE DUST

WIth all the fuss over blowing kids' heads off, I did have a question for eco-loons -

To those in Greenpeace who use dinghies*

To those in their Prius

To those who go to eco-conferences

To those who attack "climate change deniers" online

To those who read the Guardian

To those that make 'humerous' films blowing up children

Where exactly do you think the energy that you are using comes from? Pixie Dust?
I mean come on. Even your precious windmills need the National Grid to keep themseves going let alone the air miles alone just to create a Prius and the eco-damage Prius make through nickle mining.

Seriously, you guys lecture, hector, and offend people in your insistence that we all go green yet the damage you yourselves do seem to be blithely ignored by you.

Hypocrites. I've said before that if climate is changing, it is probably a natural cycle and we should be preparing our adaption to the environment because there is sod all that we can do to halt a natural cycle.

Sustainability is a worthy goal. We need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels because not only are they probably finite - therefore will become more expensive - but also because the countries where we get our fuel are not necessarily the most stable places in the world and it would be stupid to end up being hostage to events.

Food and water will become increasing factors to global instability as the human population grows, in certain areas there will be wars over this. With war and/or famine comes migration and by God I suspect we are pretty full right now and already we need to consider how to feed our population if these events occur.

So sustainability in both power, water and food should be a desirable goal, not because of some pseudo-marxist crap but because it may become a necessity.

In the meantime, if you eco-loons hate us all so much, lay off our pixie dust eh?

*In case anyone is confused about the dinghy one - most Ribbed craft (the ones Greenpeace love whizzing around oil rigs on)are mainly made out of Hypalon, neoprene or PVC. Rigid dinghies are usually made of glass-fiber reinforced plastic. All of which are based on, er, oil!

DUDE

On a slightly related post to below, Steve 'The Dude' Rude is facing foreclosure on his house as he is yet another to be hit by the downturn.

As a result he is flogging off a lot of his artwork to try and stave of the auction which will be held on 15 November.

If you love good comic art with just a hint of Kirby in it, then get over to ebay, or Steve's site, and grab yourself some comic art gold!

HT: Comics Cube

UNDER PRESSURE

No, not the Cameloons, homelessness.

Now I now a few out there sneer at the idea of homelessness but it is a real problem. People get stuck in a spiral, be it debt, drugs, alcohol, and find themselves on the streets, lost, bewildered, not knowing how to get out.

Some falter, some manage to haul themselves out.

It can happen to anyone, me, you - yes you, you may think "nonsense!" but all it takes is a job loss, money problems, eviction, you could very quickly enter the spriral, become under pressure.

Look at this great video then think about helping out. If you don't have money, acknowledge the beggar or Big Issue seller, make eye contact when you say sorry. Knowing people still see them as human beings is as much of a help as a cigarette or a bit of spare change.



Ht: The bish

DANCE IRON MAN DANCE

Just because

Iron Man Dance from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

ht: Bleeders

OOPS

It's always good fun looking at a train wreck happening.

Everyone knows about the 10:10 camtpaign film, written by Richard Curtis.

You know, the one where it's OK to blow up children who disagree with climate change, the one that my sprog will not be allowed to watch because, quite frankly, she would have nightmares.

Well, not only did 10:10 apologise, but have now apologised to its sponsors:

As you may have heard, last week, 10:10 made a mistake by releasing a short film about cutting carbon which was supposed to be humourous but in the event upset a lot of people. We quickly realised that we had made a serious mistake and took it down from our website within hours.

We also issued a statement apologising but there has subsequently been quite a lot of negative comment, particularly on blogs, and understandable concern from others working hard to build support for action on climate change.

We are also sorry to our corporate sponsors, delivery partners and board members, who have been implicated in this situation despite having no involvement in the film’s production or release

I am very sorry for our mistake and want to reassure you that we will do everything in our power to ensure it does not happen again.

10:10 is a young and creative team but we will learn lessons from this. We are going to investigate what happened, review our processes and procedures, and share the results with our partners. Responsibility for this process is being taken by the 10:10 board of directors.

This media coverage for this film was not the kind of publicity we wanted for the cause of saving the climate, nor for 10:10, and we certainly didn’t mean to do anything to distract from all the efforts of those in other organisations who are working so hard to secure effective action on climate change.

If you have been in touch with us personally about the film, we will be replying to individual emails over the next few days. I’m sorry not to have emailed you about this more quickly - although I have followed developments closely, I’ve been working from home with a four-week-old baby. I thank you for your patience and your support for the 10:10 campaign.

Eugenie Harvey

Director 10:10 UK

I presume this has nothing at all to do with Sony disassociating itself from this disgusting film:

Thank you for your email concerning the video released by the 10:10 climate change campaign group. Sony has supported the 10:10 climate change campaign because we share its objective to reduce carbon emissions. However, we strongly condemn the "No Pressure" video, which was conceived, produced and released by 10:10 entirely without the knowledge or involvement of Sony.

The company considers the video to be ill-conceived and tasteless. We also believe this video risks undermining the work of the many thousands of members of the public, schools and universities, local authorities and many businesses, of which Sony is one, who support the long-term aims of the 10:10 movement and who are actively working towards the reduction of carbon emissions.

As a result we have taken the decision to disassociate ourselves from 10:10 at this time.

DEFENCE

One of the cuts is of course defence. Leaks, Liam being angry etc etc.

But...

Has anyone actually looked at defence in terms of national expenditure?



In terms of National Expenditure it doesn't even warrent it's own segment!

The breakdown:
Total Spending by Function
Values in £ billion

2008 2009 2010 2011
Total Spending 576 631 661 681
Pensions 100 110 117 123
Health Care 204 221 239 244
Education 76 80 86 84
Defence 38 42 44 46
Welfare 88 94 105 109

For all the debate, Defence is nothing on the national budget in comparison to social expenditure.

I honestly am in shock that a government - even a coalition government that has to appease yogurt weavers- would consider such a miniscule section of national cost to be worthy of a 10% minimum cut when health can continue spending its merry way.

Note: if they get rid of the desk pilots and civil servants rather than making sure troops are under-equipped and die unnecessarily then the cut will be fine - unfortunately as I have posted in the past, the last people to be cut are those that aren't on the front line!

DOCTOR WHO;FIRST GLIMPSE

First tiny whiny glimpse of the Doctor Who Christmas Special in the preview for BBC drama this season (nearly at the end!)-



ht: Bleeders

THE WAR IS OVER

First World War that is.

Yup, the last £59.5 million of reparations by the Germans were paid on Sunday, 92 years after the Armistice.

COMICS BAN

Whilst I am on the subject of comics, the American Library Association has released its annual banned list - a celebration of free speech.

The list gives the reasons why people thought the graphic novels should be banned. My comments in bold

On the Graphic Novels section we have:

Absolute Sandman: Reasons: Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group. Erm 75 chapters challenging our perceptions of reality, story telling and life.

Blankets: Reasons: Sexually Explicit content, Other (unspecified. Mea Culpa haven't read

Bone: Reasons: Sexually Explicit content, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs. Huh? I presume the drugs bit is about the Red Dragon smoking and all the beer people drink

Fun Home: Reasons: Sexually Explicit Content. haven't read

Maus: Reason: Anti Ethnic. WTF???????? A book about the Holocaust based on the author's father and told in a simple form of cats, dogs, mice, and pigs.

Pride of Bagdad: Reasons: Sexually Explicit Content. Sex with lions

Tank Girl: Reasons: Sexually Explicit Content. And Kanga sex, don't forget Kanga sex

The Dark Knight Strikes Again: Reasons: Sexually Explicit Content. Superman and Wonderwoman banging at 10,000 ft. Seriously ban it for the horrendous artwork

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit Content and Unsuited to Age Group. Invisble man rape, yeah OK

Watchmen: Reasons: Unsuited to Age Group. Right, how? Too challenging for the little dears?

FEAR OF HEIGHTS cont...

Rich is reporting that Pornsak Pichetshote, Jonathan Vankin And Joan Hilty are to be made redundant by Vertigo.

I've written in the past (here and here) about my fears for Vertigo and this seems to confirm it.

Vankin and Hilty were responsible for the critically acclaimed original Graphic Novel division while Pichetshote has had a string of hits including the award-winning Unwritten, We3 and Losers among others (the latter two as deputy).

Well what's next?

I presume Karen Berger will be gone next and Vertigo folded up. That seems the most logical root.

Although others have said this could mean that Wildstorm editors could be shifted over to Vertigo leading to a revitalised line, I doubt it. Vertigo does seem to sit uncomfortably with the current DC headhonchos.

DC is becoming worse by the month, day even. It is like watching an old man playing 77s to remind him of his childhood. The shift to the Silver age characters is almost complete in the DC universe and there appears to be no room for modern, adult comic books in this world of Dan Didio and Geoff Johns (dead cats aside).

So I suspect no room for Vertigo - you know the publishing arm that released Neil Gaiman's Sandman, DMZ, Losers, Y:The Last Man, etc etc etc.

I'll quote myself I think:

Vertigo stands alone among mainstream publishing companies for its sheer variety and nerve...someone in Warner Bros should really start looking at the management of DC as a whole because there appears to be some serious retro, backwards-looking, sales-dropping, movements happening at the moment without the kudos that the likes of Vertigo gives the company.

I FIND YOUR LACK OF MASK DISTURBING

Heh!


ht: Geeks

MILI-VANILLA

Vanilla - default option. When you can't decide what you want, you default to that which is comfortable.

And the same with Labour.

Back to the left, bye bye Blairism.

One winner is Ed Balls who has finally defeated Mili-Senior and will be looking for a higher profile in the next few days.

The Unions will be pleased as punch that they swung it.

And of course Mili-Junior.

However, the weird thing is...I was in the bank today and it had Mili-Senior giving a speech on the conference platform.

Because the sound was off, I couldn't hear what was being said so had to look at the body language alone.

Mili-senior strode about the platform as if he had won.

Mili-junior sat there with bambi eyes, staring at the headlights, frozen with one thought in his head: "Oh shi...."

UPDATE: Actually thinking about it - the post title refers to Milli Vanilli, the band that was done for mouthing other singers' voices. Quite an appropriate metaphor come to think about it.

A SOLO RAP

Enjoy



ht: geeks

WHAT A BOOB

Funny that I was talking to friends the other day about how uneasy Americans seem to be with the human body.

Ignore the fact that it is home to the largest porn industry in the world, boobs are bad!

When Sex and the City first arrived on the screens here in the UK there was a big fuss about the sensation it was cuasing in the States with graphic sexual scenes and chat.

Then I saw it and thought: "Meh"

It was nothing that hadn't been broadcasted on Play for the Day in the 70s.

Now the latest scandal is Katy Perry's cleavage making an appearance on Sesame Street with Elmo.

It has been withdrawn because of complaints from parents.

Shish - the same parents who are happy for extreme violence to be shown on prime time I spose!

Anyway, here it is:



And here's a quite amusing report on it:

MARK MILLAR'S SECRET REVEALED

Mark Millar, comic writer, publicist, creator of Kick-Ass... and in his spare time - Aquaman!!

MARK MILLAR:


AQUAMAN:


Pic hts: All About George, Ramascreen

THE DOCTOR AND CORNELIUS

Remember Michael Moorcock writing Doctor Who?

Well here's an extract!

..The pirates, drawn from a hundred worlds and a dozen space-time continua, have come at last. Only a few, watching them from their decks and towpaths, refuse to acknowledge their power. Some even drop to their knees, bowing in respect to the inevitable, as peasants paying homage to a feudal lord.

By evening Cornelius is among them, broadcasting his formal greeting to all the rival factions on the planet, telling them, canal by canal, how much they must give and in what form, be it an ingot of newtonium, platinum bullion, provisions or crew. (Always he requests that ingot. Surely he knows there is not that much newtonium in existence?) His price is high, but the price of defiance would be higher.

When the barges are filled and brought to the great central basin called Grande Bayou, inventories are carefully made and receipts supplied. Then the recruiting begins to replace any skilled complement killed in battle or retired.

Peet Aniv, nick-named ‘the Locust’, stand high on her elegant prosthetics, making notes, quietly relaying orders, while Cornelius, his features engulfed within the plain, etched mask he always adopts in public, sits to one side of her desk, his glowing melancholy eyes fixed on the distance, looking towards Saint Marx’s islet, where once, it is said, he courted a novice and lost her to the only enemy whose superiority he has ever acknowledged and whom he calls God.

One burgher, in a hasty attempt to demonstrate his compliance, offers to show off a marvel to the captain alone. He leaves a wealthy man, but perhaps a marked man, too. Captain Cornelius frowns and puts what could be a string of beads into his pocket, rattling them while brooding on another matter.

At last, after a week, the peaceful tension is dispelled and the pirates prepare to leave, their tolls all gathered, while Saint Marx’s bells sound the end of tax-taking. In return for this price, Venice will know protection for another decade. Captain Cornelius nods to Peet Aviv. The ledgers are signed off by pirates and canal captains in a flurry of silken pomp and brilliant armour. Then the skiffs rise skyward and are gone amongst the broad ribbons of cloud. And those whose eyes strain at their scopes see the Paine standing for a moment to catch the solar winds, her wide sails filling, her instruments glowing and winking in the shrouded, perpetual twilight of her decks. Then she’s gone, too, a vast and fleeting glow against the black glare of space, no doubt making for her home base in the dwarf galaxy of Canis.

A memory of loss and glory. As if the multiverse had allowed Venice and audience with her own proud, cold soul.

Captain Cornelius inspects certain items of treasure, searching for that fabulously valuable ingot of newtonium, puzzles over his data and his charts, confers with Peet Aniv and begins to understand that fear he has always exploited but never until now known. For there are dark tides running through the universe; currents so powerful they drag whole galaxies with them, streaming gravities so strong they swallow light and threaten Captain Cornelius’s familiar existence; ultimately they will threaten every form of sentient existence and if unchecked will absorb the whole of Creation. But for now the photons press against his sails as he once presumed the would do for ever, and he tacks into the solar winds, continuing his long search for the one artefact which might lead him to something and guarantee his life, his ship’s life and the life of the universe he loves. He sails in from the Rim, daring the drag of the galactic Hub, still searching. Searching for the only being he acknowledges as his peer, who might join him or at least help him; who is known simply as ‘the Doctor’...

Get the book here

Ht: Life, Doctor Who and Combom

EU PAY

I should get a job on the EU gravy train if these figures from Ellwood & Atfield are anything to go by:

MEP

Gross monthly: €7,665.31
Net monthly €5,963.33
Net annual: €71,559.96
Staffing: €17,540/month
General expenditure: €4,202/month
Additional Subsistence: €298/day attandence at official meetings
Subsistence for external office meetings: €149/day

Comb pay (including annual travel allowance) est; €126,131.96pa

Commission and Council
26,000 employed by European Commission. 3,500 permanent posts in the Council
President: €24,874/month
Vice President: €22,531/month
High Representative: €23,432/month
Commissioner: €20,278/month
Residence allowance: 15% of salary

Civil Service
Highest grade: €16,600pm - €18,025pm
Lowest admin: €4,267 - €4,828pm
Unit head/managament: €10,129 - €11,461pm
Allowances: Varied: Expat - 16% of sallary, household & cild allowance if working outside their home country
Pension 8.25% of basic

GIVE ME INFORMATION

In the six months to June there were 1343 requests from the British government for information on Google users while there were 48 requests for data removal.

1343 user requests? I wonder on who? Should Old Holborn start getting worried?!?!

Here's the top five:

Country Data Removal

United States 4287 128
Brazil 2435 398
India 1430 30
United Kingdom 1343 48
France 1017 25




ht: Geeks

GEEKS AND PIZZA

what a perfect marriage - Star Trek pizza slicer

available here

ht: Geeks

GEEKDOOM?

An interesting article on soundblab about the rise of the geek which ends with a warning:

The geeks have already made it, let's hope they haven't got too light-headed by their sudden rise to the top.

Now I've always been a geek. Wither films - from being blown sideways by the blockade Runner and the screen being swallowed by an Imperial Star Destroyer, through the grim tech-noir of Blade Runner to the sheer lunacy from Simon Pegg and Crew; to TV - with the good Doctor, Blakes 7, Star Trek etc; or to books and comics I have embraced my geekdom.

However, as a cultural meme it has me worried. The successes of the last decade or so have dragged the Geek from their pub meets, comicons and internet into the blinking glaze of that carniverous whore that is popular culture.

At the moment Doctor Who is the most watched family programme excluding soaps, teenage girls are snapping up vampire fic and manga, and you see Green Lantern t-shirts (of all things) around the park.

But, as with all pop culture, have we hit the crest? Is the only way down?

There are a plethora of superhero films on the horizon, which will be the Heaven's Gate of the genre?

How long before we scuttle back to our darkened rooms, remembering the time when we were in the sunlight, waiting for the next time the circle turns again?

PLAYING TO THE AUDIENCE

I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than Bob Crow [the RMT union leader] could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer

Vince Cable has made a lot of ink spill over his comments to the Lib Dem conference yesterday and in the Fringe.

However, essentially he is playing to the audience.



Despite the re-birth of economic liberalism in the party, the Lib Dem delegate in general is still the left-wing, fox-hugging, hemp buying, community worker that sees the world like Basil Fotherington-Thomas singing "hullo clouds, hullo sky", thinking the world would be a better place if only people were nice.

You know like those teachers at school who were always on the verge of a mental breakdown as they realised that their lovely progedies were actually evil shits that will have to have civilisation beaten into them by their peers and the playing fields.

So Vince was giving them what they wanted. Bankers are nasty people. Rich people are selfish.

That sort of thing.

The problem is that without the financial world, where does that leave the UK? I really don't have a problem with companies using their own profits to pay workers. I DO have a problem with governments who are major shareholders not stopping banks from paying huge bonuses before they meet their debt obligation to the tax payer.

A distinct difference there Vince.

BOOK 'EM HANNO

ht: the bish

GEEK HITS

Marvel Cats


Samurai Star Wars

Ht: Geeks

SMOKIN

Apparently there is a facebook group that encourages people to cough when they walk past smokers.

Just pathetic really.

I'll leve it to the (Not-so) forgotten prophet.

Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Hicks:

Tell you, the worst kind of non-smokers' the kind where you're smokin' and they just walk up to you ... [starts coughing affectedly] I always say, 'Shit, you're lucky you don't smoke. That's some cough you got there, dude. I'm smoking, you're coughing. Wow.' That's kind of cruel, man. Going up to a smoker and coughing. Shit! Do you go up to crippled people dancing too, you fucks? 'Hey, Mr. Wheelchair. What's your problem? Come on ironside, race ya!

Obnoxious , self-righteous, whining little fucks. My biggest fear is that if I quit smoking, I'll become on of you...Don't take that wrong. I have something to tell you non-smokers that I know for a fact that you don't know, and I feel it's my duty to pass on information at all times. Ready?.......Non-smokers die every day...Enjoy your evening. See, I know that you entertain this eternal life fantasy because you've chosen not to smoke, but let me be the 1st to POP that bubble and bring you hurtling back to reality....You're dead too.

Bill Hicks: December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994

DEBT

Conservative Home has written about how Jeremy Hunt could become the champion of supporters-owned football clubs.

But there is another solution. In both Liverpool and Man U's situations, the buyers borrowed heavily to get the clubs and then put that debt onto the clubs' books.

That's right, make the clubs pay for the buyout.

And it's completely legal.

And in my opinion wrong.

As much shadenfreude as could be had from seeing these two clubs fall, it cannot be right to push a club into debt because you've bought it.

Man U only made a profit because of the selling of Ronaldo otherwise the debt would have had probably the most successful club in the UK make a loss.

Get rid of that legal move first - we might see football remember a time when the fans were as important to the clubs and players as money and cups are today.

THE BIG YIN

has left the blogging building for serious reasons and I wish him and Mrs Yin all the best for the future.

Say goodbye here!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

HT: Geeks again

STAR TREK

Brilliant - From German telly



HT: Geeks

INFALLIBILITY

They say that in pubs you should never talk about religion or politics and it may be so in blogs but hey!

So Pope Benedict is on his way faced with the usual crap that Hawkins would never dare say to an Imam.

I'm not religious, I have belief, but I was brought up Catholic.

It's weird but I don't feel the same about Benedict that I did with JP2.

I was in Italy - to watch a rugby match - and myself and the wife inadvertently ended up in a Papal mass with a blessing with JP2. Though I am not religious I respected that man the same way I respected my old headmaster who married us.

However, religion is about politics or social order. Barrier protection was banned once it became effective - how do you create more believers if someone is wearing a sheaf?

Abortion arguments I can respect, anyone who has seen their child in a scan that is before the legal limit for abortion, must have had thoughts on the legitimacy of abortion.

But I digress. There has been huge amounts of criticism about Benedict and the priest kiddy fiddlers. However there is a major problem - doctrine

People are demanding that the Pope apologises about the sickening actions of his priests but there's a major sticking point.

Papal infallibility. The successors of Paul have infallibility - doctrine-wise they cannot apologise. It's pointless to demand it. The Pope cannot do wrong so cannot apologise.

Yes I know we all think he should, but doctrine and politics demands otherwise.

If that religion says its leader is infallible and that religion demands that stance, what makes the Pope so different from Imams and Rabbis that have also refused to condemn the evils committed in their religion?

Anyway here's XTC. Always loved the song and some of the sentiments:



BTW, don't know if Google ads will turn up but most amused by an advert for Christian Dating accompanying the vid on You Tube!

BEING HUMAN

What happens when a vampire, werewolf and ghost end up living in a shared house in Bristol?

That was the concept of Being Human, a wonderful BBC3 (yeah I know there aren't that many) programme which is filming the third series in Cardiff as I type.

But the Americans are reimagining it on ScyFy.

Yeah, I think of Life on Mars and shudder as well!



Syfy's all-new drama series Being Human, starring Sam Witwer (Smallville, Battlestar Galactica), Meaghan Rath (The Assistants), Sam Huntington (Cavemen, Superman Returns) and Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Supernatural) has commenced production in Montreal, Canada. Adam Kane (The Mentalist, Heroes) is Director and Co-Executive Producer with Executive Producer Michael Prupas (The Kennedys, Pillars of the Earth) and husband and wife Executive Producers/Writers Jeremy Carver (Supernatural) and Anna Fricke (Men in Trees, Everwood). Muse Entertainment is producing 13 1-hour episodes for Syfy.

Being Human, a re-imagining of the acclaimed UK series created by Toby Whithouse, follows three paranormal, 20-something roommates living in Boston - vampire "Aidan" (Witwer), werewolf "Josh" (Huntington) and ghost "Sally" (Rath) - as they struggle to hide their dark secrets from the world, while helping each other navigate the complexities of living double lives and trying to be human. Mark Pellegrino plays Aidan's charismatic but menacing vampire mentor "Bishop."

The producer is Irene Litinsky (Human Trafficking, The Phantom) of Muse Entertainment, the director of photography is Pierre Jodoin (The Last Templar, Secrets of the Mountain) and the production designer is Zoe Sakellaropoulo (The Last Templar, The Phantom).

HT: Blastr

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Sorry bit late on this one as I don't usually read the Daily Hate, but from the Mail, pics of the Cap America stunt double and I have to say I like the costume!





ht: Bleeders

DAVID DISSES THE DOCTOR

Well, more attitudes towards children's media

Here's David Mitchell



HT: Life, Doctor Who & Combom

TRON

Enjoy

GEEK VIDS

Enjoy





ht: Geeks

HALLELUJAH

If this story is right, then fantastic, that little freak circus will not be on our screens for a while.

Unfortunately for ITV, this does mean that a cash cow has gone and with its difficulties already shareholders will not be pleased.

I know this is revolutionary but maybe ITV could consider proper telly, such as it did when I was growing up, rather than cheap reality Tv that only serves to fill Cowell's pocket.

Just a thought

CREEPING TO A EUROSTATE

This news leaves me worried.

EU states have agreed to three pan-European watchdogs to oversee controls for banks and insurers.

The UK is not part of the Euro, it is not subjected to the fiscal straitjacket that Ireland finds itself in.

Yet, it has apparently agreed - or rather unelected Civil Servants have agreed - to these bodies.

The EU has graciously allowed day-to-day supervision of individual companies and markets to remain with the national regulator yet the new EU bodies will develop harmonised rules and approaches to co-ordinate their actions..

Why? I mean why should yet another layer of regs be lumped onto a system that is already struggling with the anti-markets rhetoric from the EU already?

Under the deal, the European Central Bank president will chair the ESRC for the first five years, and there will be a review of the legislation after three years.

Oh good, because the ECB has done such a great job balancing all the disparate economies under its watch.

The new watchdogs will have no direct supervisory powers, other than for credit rating agencies operating in the EU.

No complaints about that.

And here's the carrot:

MEPs have also dropped their demand that the new watchdogs are all based in Frankfurt: instead they will be split between London, Paris and the German city.

Hah, one of the big three markets in the World was going to be ignored? Pathetic.

And here's the stick:

The watchdogs will have some additional powers in “emergency situations”, however, and may temporarily ban or restrict certain financial activities if these threaten the stability of the EU’s financial system. But “emergencies” will be called by the member states, rather than the European Commission or parliament.

Ah, additional powers and what would they be exactly and what constitutes an emergency and how do member states call it? Majority vote? France kicking its toys out of its pram?

The watchdogs have no power except in emergency situations - so what is the point of them? As always politicans look to further layers of powers and regulations rather than looking at what went wrong.

Was there a need for greater co-ordination two years ago? No, not in my opinion.

Greater communication yes but we are not in the Euro, or the Dollar, our cycle is at a different point to many in the Euro zone and we are meant to be sovereign in issues of tax, regulation and UK markets. It is up to the Bank of England and the Government to decide what actions, where and when, should be taken in the UK, not Brussels.

My major concern is that this could be used as the basis of sucking us in fully to the Euro-state. Eventually the watchdogs will get some proper teeth then our supervisory bodies will become subsumed into a greater Euro-regulator.

Once that's done, where goes the markets?

Once that's done, where goes fiscal responsibility?

Once that's done, who's accountable to the British voter?

Once that's done, where's your lines in the sand Dave?
.

25th PARALLEL- MY FIRST ALBUM COVER

Nope, not really but here is a Facebook meme, courtesy of David Bishop, where you combine random searches on Wikipedia and Flickr to create a mock-up of your mythical band's first album cover.

These are the instructions: Click here to be transported to a random Wikipedia article. The first random article you get is the name of your band. Next, click here to visit a random quotations page. Use the last quote on the page as the title for your album. [If the quote's too long, just use the last four or five words.]

Now click here and you'll be taken to a Flickr page will full of interesting photos uploaded in the last seven days. The third picture - no matter what it is - is your album cover art. Use iPhoto or Photoshop or similar to edit the picture as required. Then put all the elements together in Pages or inDesign or another desktop design piece of software.

DREAMS

When I was 14 I read this DC Presents which presented the Superboy of our Earth.

Before DC decided to turn Superboy-Prime into a fanboy psycho, this story touched me about the dreams that one could have and how incredible if those dreams could come true.

24 years later I still look up to the sky wondering if I could just reach out...

BTW the whole original story is here

OH...MY...GOD...

...shoot me now!



Ed Milliband?!?!?

Ed Balls?!?!?!

I would have even preferred Abbott



ht; Dizzy

AFTER THE NERVES,,,

It was pretty damn wonderful actually, according to the Lord of Stories:

...all I'll say is that the table read was pretty amazing, the guest star or stars will be fabulous, Matt's great, Arthur's wonderful and I never got to say hullo to Karen (who was amazing).