Golid gold = proof of busy.

Big week.


Full of typing.

Not here though.




How are you guys?

Is that a .... neck?

At this point I would like to apologise for the brevity of this week's posts. I will extend this apology to include today.

Have you ever been sitting on a chair, enjoying a cool breeze and a cool glass of lemonade, when suddenly a golid gold giraffe falls out the sky and pins you to the damp grass? Such a development causes stress, pain and a general feeling of confusion.

This is what this week has been like for me.

In more exciting developments [for me] it is my birthday tomorrow. It is something to look forward to [for me].

I have just enjoyed a small sliver of cake. Life is looking up.

Cartoon.

When you woke up this morning, I bet you were thinking "gee, what would my favourite blogger's head look like if it were animated in a style reminiscent of this manga thing the kids are all talking about these days?"

And so, after visiting 15 other blogs, you found yourself here.

BAM

Further proof that I cut my hair

DSCF1390.JPG, originally uploaded by obscene_pickle.

As this picture proves, my hair is short.

Facinating, yes?

It also proves that Leen's sock puppet had no eyes, and that she is gorgeous, but that is a sidebar to my navel gazing.

I've decided I will always let my hair get completely out of control by leaving it unstyled and unattended for 18+ months before getting a haircut.

When people believe you have lost pride in yourself and you prove otherwise is when the real compliments start flowing in.

Stefan Delatovic's Blog: The eXXXciting return!

As mentioned in my last post, my digital life took a rare backseat to my physical life over the weekend.

Because .... of visitiors from beyond! Well, beyond the city limits that is. But when you live in the middle of the desert, that's damn exciting.

I have had many conversations that go like this:

"Hey Stefan, I've had an awesome time here in Broken Hill, even though I never ever would've come here if not for [inciting event]"

"That's awesome! We've had a blast!"

"I can't wait to come back and visit you guys."

"Oh man, that'd be awesome! I would love that!"

"Yeah. So I'll always consider you a friend."

"Why would you say that?"

"We will never meet again."

But not this time! This weekend we rocked it hardcore with Luke and Lou, our bodacious Canberran buds.

That's them over there. Isn't Luke just a peach?

This is a return visit from out dynamic duo. 

They are the easiest-going houseguests on the face of the planet.  This is because they are basically us.

Any pastime we envision, any media we care to digest, they're right there with us. Really, having them over is like just living your life as as normal but in a house with walls made out of mirrors that make you look like you're awesome and can play the guitar.

In addition to the above facts [awesome time was had], here's some other stuff that happened over the weekend:

I realised that I am now very bad at Wii Tennis, and that introducing Luke to it years ago was a mistake.

An impromptu kitchen dance party - inspired by Madonna's Like A Prayer - was a blast, but as it occurred at 3.30am, it sapped the last of my energy.

After being given a set of salt and pepper shakers to use as maracas, Luke used them all night long, even after they were removed form his person.

We watched all the video of Sarah Silverman we could find. Belly laughs echoed through our home.

We ate everything we could find. One afternoon was spent bemoaning the amount of milkshake within.

Wii Games played: Wii Sports, Mario Kart, House of the Dead, Hottest Dance Party, Golden Axe.

Comic books read by various parties: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volumes I & II, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Batman Hush, Casanova, Buffy Season 8 Volume I, Fray, Tales of the Slayers.

We strolled the Mundi Mundi Plains. It was great. I am unfit.

Silverton was fun. The cafe serves gigantic meals and the surroundings are breathtaking. On Sunday it is busier that Broken Hill.

Note: Never leave eating a fried Mars Bar until the last day of a trip.

Additional Note: Four-player Mario Kart is possibly the funnest thing ever, even if the digital representation of yourself is a fatty.

Taboo is a great boardgame.

Life ... don't talk to me about life.

The blog may take a hit until Tuesday, as our good Canberrean friends Luke and Lou are visiting us. This is awesome.

Of course, we could run out of things to say to each other by Saturday, so who knows? Content may flow like wine.

We'll probably get by alright though. They brought a Wiimote with them so their Miis could come and live on our console. They are our kind of people.

And, you know, Luke is the main culprit when it come to "where's my daily update" blog comments, so the pressure's really off until he's back in front of his computer.

Society, on the whole, is doomed.

The following video demands commentary.



Sadly, my ability to critique has been crushed under the gigantic cultural touchstone rendered above.

Random thoughts on the Olympics

Sport and I are like chalk and one of those sidewalk artists that used to draw in chalk but paints now because chalk kept snapping and one time a piece of chalk killed his puppy.

So it is with great surprise that I find myself actually interested in the Olympics. I mean, I've been abstractly interested for months, but in a 'spotlight on China' kind of way. I never thought I'd watch any events, but I am.
I think the Opening Ceremony blew my mind open enough that lingering excitement seeped in like clingy bacteria.

I've had the Olympics playing in the background of my life since it began and while I'm already facing the edge of interest, it's been entertaining. I'm particularly drawn to the crazier sports and those I have never seen before.

And so, for lack of a better structure, here are some random thoughts on the Olympics.

Man, I would totally die. I love watching men's gymnastics, partly because of the wow factor, but mainly so I can catalogue all the ways I would totally die. In the average floor routine I can point to five moments in time where I would definitely perish. "I could have pulled that off ... I would sustain many injuries."

Leave him alone! Given their death-defying ability, I can't help but back the gymnasts. When a dude is swinging like a maniac and loses his grip, and a commentator remarks "that was not good" or "that's an error that will cost him", I involuntarily shout at the television "shut the hell up he tried his best didn't you just see him flip three times shoom shooom shooooom." I get invested.

Hubuwha? I enjoy Judo. It washes over me like a warm breeze in a sun-dappled field. I have absolutely no concept of the rules. It makes so sense, and they all look so angry.

Meep meep. Watching the American Dream Team play basketball is like watching Warner Brothers cartoons. People do not work that way. They're like if The Flash and Stilt-Man had a baby. They also wear cartoonishly - although rightfully - smug expressions as they dangle from a rim specifically designed to be out of reach.

The Invention of Badminton.
"Wanna play tennis?"
"Pfffsh. That game is as easy as pushing your grandmother down stairs."
"Hm. Well let's spice it up then. Could we add hobos?"
"Naw, I'm wearing white. Let's just make the court smaller, the racket smaller, replace the ball with an object as aerodynamic as it is attractive, and make sure you have to swing really, really hard to move it three feet."
"Awesome. But dude?"
"Yeah?"
"Please leave my grandmother in peace."
"No problems shuttlecock."

Unsurprisingly, China's regime is brutally efficient. Say what you will, but anyone who can start arresting protesters before half of them have freed their home-made signs from their hemp satchels could probably keep the trains running on time. They wouldn't tell anyone of course, but they would.

Channel Seven's coverage has been really bad. Borderline racism and trivialisation towards Chinese culture on the "Yum Cha" space-filler morning show. The bigger crime? It is boring and lame. Also, cutting away from the Olympics to showthe AFL? Perspective is a wonderful thing, but is not present in this instance.

Comic Geeks Speak as I Ramble.

Have you ever cooked something really delicious, and then eaten it alone at a small table? No matter what your mouth tells you, such an experience pales in comparison to a dinner party with your nearest and dearest. Food is to be shared and enjoyed. A blissful scoop of icecream tastes better when you can look into the eyes of a friend and see your happiness reflected back.

Digesting art and entertainment is the same. One of my favourite parts of the cinema experience is the boistorous, rushed conversation to be had in those ten minutes between leaving the theatre and everyone heading off to their respective homes. Loving something is rewarding, but sharing that love magnifies that reward. I don't know why, but simply saying "it was awesome when that thing happened" fills me with happy.

Why do I labour under the above to paragraphs as they threaten to topple under the weight of their own melodrama?

It's about comics.

Anticlimactic? Maybe. Personally important? Indeed.

I've loved comics as long as I can remember. I have scattered memories of my older brother giving us a stack of old Wolverine titles. I know my twin brother and I wrangled new books from my dad each and every week. I don't recall exactly how I started reading them, but I think it had something to do with some scallywags in Riverdale.

Geek tangent: My older brother would grow to regret giving over his old Wolverine titles to us. To him they were rare acquisitions and early black-and-white printings. To our young minds? Not so much. I remember the sound he made when he visited us soon after and found the covers ripped apart and turned into posters. Like a wet branch cracking under the weight of a heart full of snow.

I voraciously read Spiderman and X-Men, 2099 and What-If. My friends did too. My brother cared for and retained his books. I ripped mine to shreds in a re-reading frenzy. A small group of us would talk about all the things we were reading about. More often, we would dream up our own scenarios with the building blocks provided, like all the ways Wolverine could be killed.

Geek Tangent: We decided there was exactly one way to kill Wolverine - exploding bullet to the eye.

Like all the best bits of being a kid, comics were a shared experience. I was too young to notice anything happening below the surface, and growing up in the 90s there wasn't a lot to be had anyway. Maximum Carnage was easily the coolest thing I had ever read at the time, but alas, it did not withstand the test of time.

As I grew up I drifted from comics for a number of reasons. A main one was living in a desert and realising that it was impossible to reliably collect any one title. A few years ago it hadn't mattered, but now I couldn't read a cohesive story and that hurt. My friends and I grew away from comics and things like music and movies took their place at the watercooler.

Years later, when I found a way to get comics again, I did, and set about reading everything that had ever been written by anyone even if it was with their fingernail in a cave one time. I was swimming through amazing stuff. I revisited old friends and met new ones. Much like I re-watched The Golden Girls as a teenager and was struck by the thought: "Gee, this is filthy", I was now able to see themes, recognise artists and identify with writers.

But it was a hollow pursuit. I knew no-one who shared my passion. Walk into a house party and say "Watchmen changed my life" and only the crickets will respond.

Geek Tangent: there is a gigantic exception here. Leen and my shared love of Sandman. Long nights with new trades, rapid-fire discussion and cigarette smoke. She also has the uncanny knack to pick up seemingly random books and deliver brilliance upon our household. She rules.

But as the internet continued to open like a flower seen through David Attenborough;s favourite camera, I discovered podcasts. The idea was immediately appealing. Radio anywhere! Any time! Glorious sound! Power to people!

And I found Comic Geek Speak. Again, I can't remember the circumstances but I stumbled across a few shows and downloaded a few episodes. I played them in the background of my life.
For some reason CGS took up residence in my brain and would not leave. In essence the show is a group of comic fans sitting in a room and talking about comics. I didn't know why but I kept listening.

After a while I figured out that this was what I was missing. It sounds faintly depressing but, despite the obvious listener/broadcaster divide, this was a way for me to talk comics with my friends again. In a place with no comic shops and no fellow readers, that was important.
The reason the show works so well is that, while there's a microphone in the room, it doesn't feel like an integral part of the process. You feel like these guys would be having a discussion about their top ten trades anyway. There's also the natural dynamic that only arises on its own. There's the guy I always agree with. The guy I never agree with and want to shout at. there's the guy who takes all the put-downs. It's real.

I'm thankful for it, and it's a real symbol of the power of the internet. My desire - for a means to discuss comics with a group of like-minded fans, or simulate such a thing - is obscure. But it is possible through podcasting. Through these podcasters.

It's also done wonders for my reading. Some of the more verbose members of the group are DC fans. As a Marvel child, I had long been indoctrinated against DC, but now I realise the truth - the divide is between good comics and bad comics, not publishers. Through recommendations and general discussion I found and read Blankets (which made me cry), Crisis on Infinite Earths (which made me confused) and Crying Freeman (which made me back slowly out of the room before whispering "awesome").





This ... did not begin as the longest essay ever.

Change. It's good for you, but it is terrifying.

My ongoing monkeying around the edges of this blog continues.

I've updated the "Places I Visit Each Day" section on the bottom right using one of Google's new digito-wingwangs. 

Now the sites that support it will show when they were last updated and with what. It looks a little messier, but it furthers my selfish agenda to pump all the information I personally require into one place.

I shall continue the manufacture of blog content - a byproduct of the above motive - tomorrow.

Today I made the mistake of typing Elseworlds into Wikipedia and throwing my day down a deep, inescapable hole of endless browser windows. Somewhere in the multiverse Superman, who is also Batman and Lex Luthor's russian son from the future, is laughing at my predicament.