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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Nicholas Svara" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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09:51 am
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Review - "The Tuloriad" by John Ringo and Tom Kratman
In brief: 4 out of 5 stars, due to a serious error in making personal opinion more important than facts. That's right, I'm dissin' two people who could kill me with their pinkies, but I'm making a stand here, damnit.
... yeah, I used to do reviews here, didn't I? Before I became so immersed in the decisions being made by comic book writers and editors and then started moving towards human rights issues and kind of waffled off because I don't feel like I can really talk about "Justice for All" on the same blog that I use to discuss Pokemon. But let's go ahead and brush the dust off the reviewer's fingers for a moment and talk Ringo and Kratman.
I suppose I should start off with why I haven't expressly reviewed the four or five books that came out since Yellow Eyes. In fairness, I'm an idiot. But I think the main problem is that none of them expressly made me raise my eyebrow and say, "Ok, this is something I need to comment on". They were just standard Posleen books, and I enjoyed the hell out of them. But the Tuloriad, just like Yellow Eyes, continues the humanizing of the Posleen, which is probably worthy of comment in itself. And it does make some statements that are potentially offensive.
Oh, wait, the book was completely about bonds being made between Humanity and an alien race due to the pull of religious faith. Given how many of my posts outside of those regarding games, comics, and books, were an effort to bash religion in the most polite of terms, I'm probably talking about that. Except...
Let's be fair; I'm in a place right now, due to the religious-based homophobia that's sweeping the government, where religion (or more to the point the absence of religion in major policy making) is extremely important to me. And perhaps the timing of the Tuloriad couldn't be any better due to that, because it gave me a chance to take my mind off of what I'm seeing in the news and see Faith as it could be, as it should be. It doesn't change my mind any more than Christopher Hitchens changed theirs.
So, in brief, the summary. A group of the posleen introduced in Yellow Eyes has been rescued and sent home. In the process of finding their roots, some of them attempt to rediscover their ancient religious beliefs, even as a group from Earth attempts to bring a galactic peace by introducing the posleen to their own beliefs.
And I enjoyed this? Oh, hell yes! I mean, part of me admits that sheepishly, because if we go back to my original review of Yellow Eyes:This naturally leads to my only complaint about the book, in that roughly a third of the book is given over to a couple of Posleen characters. Yeah. And HALF the book this time is given to those Posleen characters.( Read more... )
(Damnit, I just realized I still owe Tom his solo read. Gotta fix that ASAP!)
Tags: john ringo, review, tom kratman
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10:12 am
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A Twilight Dawning Christmas
Twilight Dawning is my World of Warcraft guild on the Sentinels server. We're just a friends and family guild... as in, there's four of us. Since today is the day before half the guild is off work for a day, I figured I'd write a "Day before Christmas (Eve)" poem. And I figure I'll put it here for posterity.
( Read more... )
Current Mood:  artistic
Tags: world of warcraft
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01:49 pm
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Being Ungrateful this Thanksgiving -
As Thanksgiving starts us on the Holiday season, everyone's sitting down to count their blessings. Of course, many are bypassing giving thanks directly to those who deserve those thanks, instead choosing to just directly thank a divine being who may or may not listen; while many others are taking their holiday time to give the homeless and helpless, either in His honor or just because it's the right thing to do. And so, I think it's time we all thought about what we should not be grateful for.
( Read more... )
Oh, there's plenty to be thankful for. But until this is a country where people stop excusing stupidity, cruelty, and hate because of "God working in mysterious ways" or "God punishing us" or "We don't know everything yet, so this ludicrous claim COULD be correct", and equal rights are offered to EVERY citizen, regardless of who they want to cuddle for the rest of their lives, there remains too much to be ungrateful for.
Current Mood:  thoughtful
Tags: atheism, rant
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06:23 pm
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Why is this so hard to understand?
Referendum 71 was passed in Washington State by a horribly narrow margin yesterday. Meanwhile, in Maine, Question 1 was also passed, with the opposite effect and the same narrow margin. Both had the same question.
Should two consenting adults, of legal age, be given the same rights to choose their partner as everyone else?
Ultimately, what we see is that roughly half the voting adults believe not.
And it's just unfathomable to me. America boasts about being a country of freedom, and yet rather than just provide rights to people that are already given to other people. We have elections to decide if John and George get to marry. Why is this in question? If John is the same age as I am, and George is the same age as my wife, the precedent already exists. Why is there any question of letting people vote on whether this is acceptable?
And why are there so many people opposed to it? America has had so many attempts to restrict marriage, that it's hard to believe anyone's left alive who could think for a moment that it's ok to allow this hatred to continue. Are you a minority, married to a caucasian? Then you should support the marriage of gays, because your marriage used to be illegal. Are you a member of a religion? Then I hope you didn't vote against same-sex marriages on religious grounds, because who's to say that another religion can decide that your beliefs are wrong and your marriage doesn't exist? And if you're not religious and you voted against the bill, then I'm not sure what I can say.
If there are laws allowing Nicholas and Dawn to marry, then those laws already cover Stan and Steve, or Jane and Jackie. It just doesn't make sense that we have to put it to a vote otherwise, and see that half of the voters hate freedom so much that they'd willingly take it away from someone, just because they "don't agree with their lifestyle choice".
Current Mood:  frustrated
Tags: rant; atheism; human rights
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02:15 pm
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This man comes on up to me...
... his face is red like a rose, on a thorn bush, like all the colors on a royal flush. He's holding his hand out to me...
- Geoff Tate, from a live cover of "Bullet the Blue Sky" from Queensrÿche: Take Cover
Went to the park today, because I needed some exercise, needed some time to myself. Busy in the office, and Dawn's not having the funnest time at work, so all I wanted was just sit in the sun, mind my own business.
And I'm passing this older gentleman in a powered wheelchair, giving him the sidewalk, and he stops, and he turns to me, and he says... "Can I ask you a question, sir?"
And I look at all the other people in the park, and I wonder... why'd you choose me? I'm fairly average looking, I'm dressed well for a business casual office, my hair's cut well... there's got to be a reason why you're asking me a question, instead of someone else.
So, I say sure.
( Read more... )
Current Mood: frustrated
Tags: rant; atheism
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10:11 am
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Pokemon: Want List
For the members of the Pokemon community... here's what I'm currently missing from my Living Pokedex.
( Read more... )
Tags: pokemon
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08:53 am
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It's never just the game...
Trying to see if the new free to play Dungeons and Dragons will be something Tristan's interested in, I put his name on the Beta list. So I've been checking his e-mail pretty regularly. Well, yesterday morning I check and there's a notice that his World of Warcraft account has been linked to a Battle.Net account... which was odd because, for one thing, my name isn't "Connie", and for another thing, I don't ever use gMail. So I called Blizzard, and sure enough, the account had been claimed by someone else, reactivated, and within an hour, had been given a 24 hour suspension for doing Bad Things... as in, spamming gold selling ads. So, I got that cleared up, moved the account to my Battle.Net account so it couldn't be stolen (that way) again, and then got to thinking about what this means.
( Read more... )
Current Mood:  infuriated
Tags: rant
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12:57 pm
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Seriously, Comic Publishers: What the f**k is up with masked profanity?
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
Tags: article, comics, rant
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07:02 am
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Theism, Dystheism, and Pink Unicorns
For those playing World of Warcraft - and even those who don't - the name "Oxhorn" should be familiar. He creates some of the most amusing and witty World of Warcraft machinima, all of which can be found here. Although I don't agree with the underlying idea of his "Inventing Swear Words" series (an article I was going to write about Marvel comics, amusingly enough) I love the events that have occured, and his "Associate Professor Evil" series is absolutely hilarious. Oxhorn is also a devout Christian, which is made clear by his statement at the end of his videos that - paraphrasing here - "If any glory comes from these videos, it belongs to Christ." So, we have different viewpoints, that's fine; whatever his beliefs, he just wants to entertain, and everyone needs a good laugh.
I was, however, anticipating that at some point he would want to step away from entertainment and try to explain his beliefs, which is completely his right. Based on his past work, I expected something witty and clever, which would give even me room for pause and thought. Unfortunately, what we received was "The Invisible Pink Unicorn", which shows a man trying to convince three scientists that an invisible pink unicorn exists, which he convincingly does by murdering them in cold blood when they express their reasons for doubt.
Wait, what?
Tags: article, atheism
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07:37 am
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A quick non-self serving post...
Unfortunately, I know full well I'm hardly a well-read blog, but if there's any chance it can do some good, I'd like to direct eyes to the web page for my co-worker's son. He needs emergency surgery, and my buddy's in the very familiar sounding "Not being paid poorly now, but oh those previous debts..." world where coming up with the cash is difficult. Visit, read, pass the page around, and hopefully it'll do some good.
Tags: serious
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09:03 am
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The Barrens Theme Song
Set to the tune of U2's "Where the streets have no name"
I am a troll
A Tauren, an orc
I've finished my early levels
I'm not such a dork
I head to the Barrens
Near the Mulgore plains
Where raptors have no heads.
Gazrog has a quest
He needs raptor heads
They've stolen silver that's inside a case
He promises cash
When I bring him proof
But raptors have no heads.
Raptors have no heads
Raptors have no heads
They can't see
'cause they don't have a face
Don't have a face
It doesn't make sense
A-na-tom-i-cal-ly
It just hurts my brain
Zehvra with no hooves
Don't know how they can run
And the plainstrider beaks?
Clearly there ain't none
How can I get rewarded
Complete this stupid quest
When raptors have no heads?
Raptors have no heads.
Raptors have no heads?
How could they find
That shipment of stuff,
shipment of stuff
I'll keep on killing
'Till I find just one
(Eleven to go...) (If you enjoy this enough to actually set it to music, and especially if it gets Machinima'd, please let me know. :) )
Current Mood:  silly
Tags: humor, world of warcraft
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11:53 am
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One More One More Day Comment...
Yesterday, I was reading Comic Book Resources, and noticed this little rant which pointed out that, although people are enjoying the stories from Brand New Day, they could easily have been written with a married Peter Parker. And someone said something I thought was brilliant:
Well, there is one thing that has been done with an unmarried Peter that could never be done with the married one.
Six issues went unsold to me. Never would have happened if Peter was married.
It occurred to me - this is absolutely correct. If One More Day had been a bait and switch from the start; if Joe Quesada had released a series where Spidey and Mary Jane had ALMOST given up their marriage to save Aunt May but realized that their partnership was so important... I would have started collecting Spider Man. It would have shown that they were dedicated to telling good stories ABOUT a married couple instead of wasting so much time grousing that they can't tell good stories. And I would have been reminded: Damnit, I need to be supporting this. I NEED to be putting my money towards supporting GOOD STORYTELLING. But that led me to another realization this morning. Now, I'm not a legal expert, but I've done some reading, so I think I'm close here...
Marriage, in the United States, is a legal bond. There are, legally, two ways to end a marriage: Divorce, which states that although the two people were married legally, it is now being legally ended, and annulment, which states that, in the eyes of the law, the marriage never actually happened.
Now, Joe Quesada has gone on record saying that the deal with the Devil was necessary to prevent the stigma of divorce - because, OMG, the entire concept of people deciding that there's something wrong with a marriage is SO BAD. I mean, seriously, "Peter, I love you but... I can't take being Spider-Man's wife anymore. I want to separate, get a divorce, and move to London." Especially given the fact that he'd choose his aunt over his wife, but that's beside the point.
But the deal is that either way, it's a LEGAL status, which has to be dissolved by a JUDGE. Technically, Mephisto annulled the marriage by making people believe it never happened, but Mephisto is NOT PART OF THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM.
What does this mean? That Peter Parker, in the eyes of the law, is still married to Mary Jane. So, instead of no longer being married to her, he is, in fact CHEATING ON HER PUBLICLY if he spends any "quality time" with another woman. And since one of the things that Mr. Quesada said he wanted out of One More Day was for Spidey to be dating again... he's become a two-timing bastard.
Good job, Sir! To avoid the stigma of divorce, you made Peter Parker into a complete lowlife!
Tags: comics, rant
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10:28 am
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Valentines Day and Other Stupid Assignments...
This morning, I thought maybe I'd take some time to make a valentines day blog. It was going to be a humorous article - theoretically, of course, I don't guarantee that anything I mean to be funny actually is - about my investigation into love, and the research I've done into love over the years, with most of the jokes revolving around needing a new couch due to some of my experiment ideas. But, there's two problems with this; one, I'd be making lies up about my relationship for humor's sake, and two... I really, really, REALLY hate Valentines day. And I just can't be funny about that.
Fortunately, it's not a hatred that's exclusive to just this day; it's a general hatred of any day which theoretically focuses on something which should just be a normal aspect of existence. I mean, it's a day to celebrate love, right? To me and Dawn, that would be... "Any day of the week." And I'm pretty sure that 99% of the people in secure relationships have the same attitude. But here comes this damn "Special Day Of Romance" - barely a month after the wide variety of winter holidays, so you've already shattered the bank account. Brilliant. Knowing that people can't afford gifts still, give them a reason to feel guilty for not buying them.
Fercryin'outloud, Dawn has made it abundantly clear that she hates the holiday, and I STILL feel like a failure. And that doesn't even take into consideration the horror that everyone who DOESN'T have a "special light in their life" must feel when faced with all these reminders that they're "obviously" missing something.
But, see, as bad as THE ONE DAY is, it is a small aspect of February's frustration. I am talking about Black History Month. Y'know, the month when a HUGE number of American Citizens are allowed to celebrate their ancestry. Oh, thank goodness for that. The SHORTEST month of the year is dedicated JUST TO THEM. What a wonderful gesture. I mean, ignoring the fact that the other minority groups don't get as big a deal made of their "history months" - which I've been promised exist, no, really - it's FEBRUARY. Couldn't we at least have announced that a month with 31 days be a celebration of Black History?
Of course, this ignores the true embarassment of the month. There is no need for a Black history month, nor is there a need for a Chinese, Italian, Martian, or Aquatic Dweller month. This is America; anyone who lives here should be an American, and provided with accurate and complete information on ALL their history, good, bad, or indifferent. The evil racism that is still a constant aspect of our country's existence is showcased when our government says, "We will briefly set this group above the others, so that the rest of the time we can continue treating them like subhumans."
Which, honestly... is the same thing as Valentine's Day. If you don't celebrate this day, which honestly has no purpose, spiritual, historical, or otherwise, then you aren't one of the Good People. And if you don't spend money you can't afford, you're not one of the Good People.
Life, love, and history - regardless of skin color, or how "serious" your relationship is, or whether you have a "standard" relationship or not - should be treated with respect 24/7, 365 days a year. We should NEVER insult ourselves by accepting a brief, totally arbitrary, period of time where it's "more special" to be who we are.
Besides (adult language warning ahead) everyone should know that it's the First of May that we celebrate.
Tags: serious; rant
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03:51 pm
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Zombies, Zombies, Zombies...
Reading through my usual skeptical blogs, I am reminded that there are those who consider anti-theists like myself incapable of finding purposes in life. Specifically, there is someone claiming that in 90 days, they will be ending it because there's no purpose now that they're an atheist. It is generally assumed that, without a calling from a higher power, an atheist cannot see a reason to exist, and is doomed to simply wallow in hedonism or life an empty shell of a life.
For all of those who believe that to be true, I have this to say: That's not atheists, that's zombies.
Now, there are those who would say that zombies don't actually have what they would consider hedonistic attitudes. But, seriously, when was the last time you said, "Hey, y'know what would taste great? Someone's brain." You didn't, because, honestly, eww. Especially raw. At the very least, grill it; I have this steak seasoning that... wait, wait, wait, that implies that I've considered it. Cancel that line of thought.
I think, in summary, that what you should get from this post is the following: John Ringo is the greatest author ever, and you need to buy his Council Wars books so I can get a new book in the series. Because if you don't, and there's a zombie infestation, I will be coming for you, if I'm zombified, and, coincidentally, located near your insecure hiding place. Oh, and something uplifting about my lack of religious belief, I suppose.
Current Mood:  mischievous
Tags: humor; zombies; zombies; zombies; atheis
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12:04 pm
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Hitman: Codename 47 - an anti-guide
I absolutely love Gametap. Unfortunately, since only two family members can log into an account at a time, it's hard for us to justify the extremely reasonable price tag (more so, due to the existence of our WoW accounts,) since if two of us are doing things on Gametap, someone's in the cold. Still, I greatly appreciate them opening up a selection of free games, which only bugs you with a brief "Think THIS is fun? Imagine what you'd get for $10 measely dollars. C'mon..."
Last night, Dawn wasn't up for playing, and since it wasn't a scheduled WoW night, I abandoned my poor buddy to roam Azeroth alone to play "Hitman: Codename 47". Which is to say, "I used the Restart Level option a lot". I know that there's plenty of people out there who like to point out how good they are at games; I therefore feel it's only fair for me to express just how badly I suck.
Current Mood: silly
Tags: humor; video games
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09:10 am
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January Musings...
I am hesitant to proclaim wishes of a happy new year, because - as I've mentioned previously - I'm not convinced that our current month/year combination is anything more than a random decision - or, at least, based on an illogical decision. That being said, I am in total agreement that the midpoint of winter has come and gone, making this a perfect time to be considered a "starting point" for the next twelve lunar cycles. Of course, it's also unwise to refer to upcoming plans as "resolutions", as that's a term with negative connotations; as a great warrior once said, one should either endeavor or not, but not resolve to endeavor.
Or maybe that was just a little guy with someone's hand up his butt. I can never tell.
Current Mood:  cynical
Tags: rant, serious
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08:55 am
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Pleasing our Robot Overlords is the reason for the season:
Did I say overlords? I meant "protectors"!
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime.
(Song by the talented Jonathan Coulton - buy it here.)
Tags: holiday, humor
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09:34 am
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The Santa Claus problem...
On Sunday, we put up the Christmas tree, the lights, and the decorations; definitely the main reason why I love this season so much. (I have a huge and hopefully continually growing nutcracker collection, which will someday completely overrun the living room.) That night, after dinner, I was planning on the three of us getting together and playing a game, but Tristan insisted on watching a Christmas movie. So, we watched The Santa Clause.
Now, Santa is a beautiful example of how I willingly select "tradition" over my personal beliefs in some cases. I know that the natural laws do not allow for Santa to exist. More importantly, I know exactly where the gifts from Santa originate, and how they appear when Tristan is sleeping. In the past eight Christmases, not once has a present appeared under the tree that I did not anticipate being there. But, the joy of seeing Tristan's eyes light up when "The presents under the tree" before he goes to bed become "The presents under the tree plus the additional, 'magical' presents" is worthwhile. And, eventually, it will be a lesson in critical thinking.
The problem with Santa Claus, from a movie perspective, is that the plot of any Santa-oriented movie is usually something along these lines:
- Child is put in a position where he's beginning to doubt Santa.
- Santa appears, in person, to child, to prove his existence.
- Child, at least temporarily, regains their faith.
In other words, the movie does not understand the world it has designed, and provides a solution to a non-issue. What's the non-issue? Oddly enough, it's the same non-issue that's made about Atheism.
Tags: atheism, critical thinking
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09:10 am
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All I want for Christmas...
Thanksgiving is the start of my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas. I love the songs, the decorations, the stories, even the supposedly crass commercialization. But mostly I love it because, just for a month, I can see a world that is truly touched by God.
This may surprise anyone who knows me well, since I'm an atheist.
I suppose that I'm a horrible athiest when it comes down to it, because it's kind of the point of atheism to not believe in God, which I actually do, and seeing as how I believe in the message of Christ, that would make me a Christian Atheist which, frankly, sounds silly. But, ultimately, the problem is that the Bible clearly states that there is one God and, since I can't believe in the one that's traditionally referred to, I must, logically, not believe in any.
( What I don't believe, below the cut... )
Here's what I truly and honestly believe. In the beginning, there was nothing, because there was nothing but animals who didn't think. And Man evolved, with the ability to think and reason and understand. But Man was a child, and he needed guidance, so Man created God. And God was Good, because He was Man's conscience, and hope, and dreams for a future. And God tested Man, not because He was capricious and cruel, but because He was a parent, and just like any parent, He wanted to do His best, and nothing seemed to work right. And eventually, God sat down and realized that Man was grown up now, and as much as He would rather it be otherwise, He had to let Man go. So, he tried to make a big deal about it, but just like any young person, Man still had an attitude, but God did his best.
And then he let us go, asking if we could just please, please, just be nice to each other and stop fighting so much.
One of my favorite Christmas sentiments comes from Trans-Siberian Orchestra's album "The Lost Christmas Eve", specifically the song "Christmas Nights in Blue". "I've got a drop-dead simple childhood view of Salvation; perhaps that's how it was always meant to be. And the more I add up all this information, it seems it all comes down in the end to you and me."
What do I want for Christmas? I want everyone to throw away the presumptions about the season belonging exclusively to them. I want everyone to understand that no matter what their religious beliefs are, or even if they don't have religious beliefs, that they all deserve to take the season as an opportunity to celebrate what really matters.
We're alive. We have family, we have friends, we have total strangers. And that is the ONLY thing that matters. If you are having fun, if you are being kind to people, if you are celebrating LIFE, you're doing it right.
Because, while we're alive, it shouldn't matter if there's a heaven or a hell; all that matters is this world. And we make it a heaven by celebrating being alive, and enjoying the company of the people around us.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
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04:45 pm
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Called it.
I've taken a long break from the blogging because I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. I don't like whining, I don't like accidentally spoiling people, and I certainly don't want to just regurgitate what other people have said, probably better.
But I do want to point out one thing from the DC solicitations, according to Newsarama:
 GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #5
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Amanda Conner
Cover by Cliff Chiang
Variant cover by Conner
With a recent tragedy hanging over their heads, Green Arrow and Black Canary realize that they may not have actually gotten married. But will they try again or drift apart in the wake of all that’s happened to them?
Sounds a lot like what I mentioned a month ago when I pointed out that, since Mr. Winick refused to foreshadow the change of characters, by definition we don't know if they're married or not. Meaning that the whole thing was, as expected, a farce. Because, of course, you can't be married without being boring. Thanks, DC. I almost put Wonder Woman on my pull list because of Gail, but damnit, I can't directly support you at all.
Tags: comics, rants
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