Edshugeo The GodMoor

Less than 26 hours from now. I'm torn between picking up GTA IV at midnight tomorrow (@ the local GameStop) or getting it on the way to work on Tuesday morning. I'm currently leaning towards midnight. I was hoping to finish San Andreas before this game was released, but that ain't gonna happen.

I've barely touched Call Of Duty 4, or Blazing Angels 2, though I have played a li'l bit of Rock Band (w/drums). I was mostly trying to get through GTA: San Andreas (XBox version) on the 360. Got farther than I did on the PC version, in which I got stuck at the mission where I had to intercept a jet with a propeller powered plane, and kill the hit men inside. The XBox version was much easier and I caught up with the plane on all attempts. I just kept forgetting how to activate the landing gear at the end. I'm now up to the point where everything is setup for the casino heist, but I didn't do any of those James Woods airstrip missions, so I gotta do those before the story can move along.

Taxpayers are expecting some gub'mnt cheese within the next coupl'a weeks or so, and for a little while, I actually thought I might blow mine on a PS3. I'm having second thoughts, though. I don't really need it. Would be nice to have for the Blu-Ray, now that it's safe to buy movies, but there aren't any PS3 games I have to have at this point (and I have plenty on the 360 to keep me busy for a while). Their Second Life knock off, Home looks intriguing, but is just another one of Sony's promises right now. I might buy it (just because), but it looks like I won't. Maybe there'll be a price drop soon.

Labels: Anticipay-yay-shun..., fun, Hempstead, PS3, video games, XBox 360, youtube and other video

The above image is from The Marvel Try-Out Book from back in the eighties. A comic book presented on 11"x17" 2 ply bristol board. A few pages complete but without color. Next a few complete sans color and inks. The pencils were printed in non-repro blue. These were followed by pages without word balloons (but with a script on an opposite page) and with rougher pencil, and then without words or pencils, but with plot, and finally I think, without even plot.
Since I don't have my penciled pages around, I assume they must've been really awful. I rarely throw my work away.
At the time I thought my inking was okay, though I never sent those pages in either. As with the above image (inked over John Romita Jr.'s blue lined pencils), it's pretty clear (now, at least) that some of my embellishments were a bit heavy handed at times, and at others, maybe a bit too sketchy.
It'd be cool if they kept putting out more of these, but I believe one more was created maybe in the nineties, featuring the X-Men. I understand the penciled pages were printed in black which meant the extra hassle of tracing and transferring.

Speaking of J. Jonah Jameson, on one of my recent, barely coherent rants, I discussed some long held ideas I had about Spiderman, but forgot about the publisher of the Daily Bugle. I'd recently read an article at Newsarama.com about some upcoming crap at Marvel. I don't remember the specifics, but some writer or editor stated an intention to cast J. Jonah Jameson in the mold of Rupert Murdoch. Or vice-versa. I don't like what Murdock has done to newspapers and I don't care for the Fox News network. It's also obvious that Jameson's a dick and that little Hitler mustache isn't really doing him any favors. But Jameson is not a Conservative. His concern that law enforcement should be held accountable (not possible with masked vigilantes) is a classic riff of the political left. Especially considering the actual history of the masked vigilante in the U.S. of A.

Speaking of upcoming crap at Marvel, here's a link to a Newsarama article (speaking of newsarama articles) that contains some really cool Dr. Strange artwork. I like the Vincent Price look. In the beginning, Steve Ditko kinda made him look Chinese or something. I'd like to see them do something with that eventually. There's also a new Eternals series by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. (speaking of JR Jr.). Mentioned a while back on a Jack Kirby newsgroup, this could lead to a compilation of the original series, which would make me real happy.

There's a reprint collection of 1970's Nova comics in Marvel's Essentials line. Those thick black and white phone book collections. That was one of my favorite books, back in the day, though he and I came from different versions of Hempstead, Long Island. His version of Hempstead High School was all white except for his one Black friend, while my version (Nova might've been cancelled by the time I was high school aged - I forget) was mostly Black and I had a few White friends.

Jenny, Jenny, Everywhere....
Jenny Everywhere is a copyright free e-comic character who exists everywhere at once, so any creator can do whatever they will and not worry about pesky things like continuity and whatnot. Some stories are better than others. Here's one I like: Damn Fine Hostile Takeover - part one and part two.

Labels: comics, dead links, Hempstead, non music projects, nostalgia, These pictures will come back to haunt me one day

Billy's has been open for just over forty years, now. Never got my haircut there. I always went to a spot closer to The Drive, where I live, that eventually became known as Jackson Unisex. I don't remember what it was called then, and I don't think it's still there now. I should know since I pass it every day, but I don't. I also on occasion got my hair cut by my father. Apparently, that was not always a good idea, but that's another story or two. Anyway, I've lived in Hempstead for just over thirty years, and the face in the window above has always represented an iconic vision of home, kinda. Some idiot vandalized the image earlier last year (I think it was), by spraying yellow paint over the eyes. The paint was actually on the window, and not the image itself, which seems to be on a cut-out board of some sort and not directly on the window. It was eventually cleaned up. Good thing. I'd always wanted to preserve this image, should the barbershop ever go away.

Friends who got their haircut there would tell stories of being coerced into attendeing church by Reverend Boone, who in addition to being a pastor, cut heads at Billy's and also owned (for a time) the apartment complex I still live in. The coercion was subtle and consisted of asking the question "comin' to church on Sunday?" (not an exact quote) in the middle of a haircut. Kids took their haircuts seriously, so the answer was always yes.

I'd gone down to the spot, because I thought it suitable for a cartoon. The cartoon requires snow, which we finally got yesterday, so I went down and took some pictures and managed to get one or two of the head in the window of Billy's Barber Shop.

Labels: Hempstead, nostalgia, These pictures will come back to haunt me one day