The Dork Modifier

Recently I started going to the local comic book store after a hiatus of more than 10 years. This, in and of itself, is certainly an assurance of major dorkhood. My question, dear reader(s), is this:

Does it make me more dorky or less dorky that the only reason I go is to purchase the comic book continuation of my favorite show ever, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

For some reason, I'm thinking more dorky. I think even your "normal" comic book store patrons would be a little embarrassed buying an issue of Buffy.

Where does it go?

Okay, so tonight at 2 a.m. we will set our clocks forward an hour. I'm sure this question is completely unoriginal, but where does that hour go? The Comcast guide on my box, which is divided in half-hour segments, goes from 1:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. That hour is gone. I wonder if it's like in Dark City when everyone falls asleep and the city starts changing. Maybe crazy stuff happens in the missing hour.

I guess I don't know what happens in that missing time. I feel like I've been robbed, but then it's given back in the fall, when an extra hour is just crammed into the middle of the night and we live blissfully with that extra hour until it's stolen away again in the spring.

I submit for your approval...

Banana Cream Pie is mankind's crowning achievement.

Hrm.

Fact: I have 218 items in my Netflix queue.
Fact: I've had the three discs I have now out for more than a month.
Conclusion: I want to see a lot of movies, but I'm in no rush.
Conclusion: Those were some expensive rentals.

The Out-of-Text Retcon

Retcon is short for retroactive continuity, which basically means that something stated later on alters events that already occurred, sometimes completely. It tends to come up fairly often in comic books, but there are tons of other examples in the Wikipedia article linked to there.

What got me thinking about this was that J.K. Rowling "revealed" this week that Dumbledore was gay. You know what? I don't care if he was gay. The sexuality of old men wasn't really a topic that was explored by the books themselves. This is going to have a lot of people up in arms, but it doesn't actually matter at all because Rowling took the wussy way out. What bothers me isn't that she's made this decision about Dumbledore's character, but the fact that she didn't put it in the freaking books.

In a text chock-full of gradual revelation of plot-changing details, much of which falls under the retcon heading, why shy away from one more? Is it to avoid getting the book banned in more locations? I don't know. It just bothers me that an author who is so widely read can change everybody's perception about her story without using legitimate means to make that change. It feels very cheap.

I'll be interested to see how this affects the next movie. I wonder if Michael Gambon will try to play swishy. I wonder if he can play swishy.

Ultra-fresh!

Like everything I post worth checking out, this one came from Digg. A couple of observations: Does it seem to you that every video you see on Youtube has a 4-star rating? Also, this really makes me want to listen to some Apocalyptica. It still amuses me to no end to know that something like Apocalyptica exists and is actually awesome.

You know what I hate?

I hate the idea of those tall paperbacks they're selling now. They're the same width as normal mass market paperbacks, but just taller. They represent a threat to the uniform height of the bookshelf contents. It's bad enough that I have to deal with the spine colors not matching; now I have to step carefully on online purchases, checking the dimensions to make sure they're not freak books. Do these tall books represent some sort of increased readability? Less page turns? There has to be some reason to turn your back on reason and handsomely level bookshelves. Or is it just insanity?

I guess I'll just have to get everything leather-bound.

Aw man!

Now that the final Harry Potter book has been leaked in its entirety, I have to avoid the internet until I can finish the thing on sunday. Not that it will affect this blog much.

Ha ha.