Polite Dissent

A mostly lazy weekend. When I wasn’t trying to fix my website, I decided it was time to learn Access, so I’ve been trying to wrap my head around some of the bizarre concepts found in database programming. (And take it from me, make sure you back up your site regularly, or keep some sort of back up copy somewhere. It saved me hours of frustration and extra work).

I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for Wicked, which is coming to Chicago soon. The Polite-Wife is a big fan of Gregory Maguire’s books, so I think we’ll make the trek up north to see it. The music is better than I expected, not as much the paint-by-number musical theater common on Broadway lately.

I’ve been taking a lot of breaks playing Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, the third in the Ratchet & Clank series. So far, this one has been excellent, just like the first two. The level designs are clever with many little secrets to find. In addition to the occasional arena combat levels, this one also has several battlefield levels, which are exhausting, but a agreat deal of fun. The cut scenes, as always, are hilarious — especially the “Courtney Gears” video. Did I mention the game-within-a-game 2D levels where you’re playing someof Captain Quark’s old adventures? A great game so far.

We also finally went to see The Incredibles. I thought it was great. I particularly liked the part about the capes. I can see how they’re going to have a hard time making a live action Fantastic Four movie after this.

Sunday Blog-O-Bits:

• There is something not quite right about Tim O’Neil’s latest comic book remix. But yet, I can’t look away. I particularly like the part about Sally wanting to become an X-Men, yet bitter-graping that she could never fit in the costume.
• Don’t miss Laura’s Bloggity Contest #1. There’s achance to win a copy of Colonia: Islands and Anomolies by Jeff Nicholson. There’s also a chance to win an orignal page of artwork from the book.
• The Comic Treadmill needs to stop doing such excellent review of Archive Editions. They make me want to own every one. My comic book budget is big enough already, H.
  (And you all caught their Twelve Days of Christmas. Right? Right?)
• Finally, here’s an interesting site by an author who proposes a Unified Field Theory (of sorts) for super-heroes. Apparently it call comes down to Superman and viruses, transfusions, and promiscuous sex.