So when you
Flashback Friday: Hurricane Isabel
It’s another weird flashback this week, denizens. However, it’s been a bit of a weird week in general, what with Bajoran-shaking earthquakes and now the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene. Quite a unique geological/meteorological time, indeed, for the D.C. area, eh?
All the Irene-inspired insanity that has been transpiring throughout the day has reminded me of the last time that a hurricane dared to approach the Capitol City. Ironically, this was a Lady “I” storm as well: Isabel, back in 2003. The very first year of LobaBlanca’s online blogerific lair. I kept up a running commentary back then, interspersing hurricane-related thoughts among my Angry BloggerTM diatribes. Some of them were actually kind of poetic. Or at least interesting enough to milk for a flashback 😉
Here, then, is the block of posts that I made back in 2003, to commemorate the arrival of our last blustery Lady of the Tropical Furies. I’ve even included the non-hurricane-related posts from that period, as a blast from the past of those wild and wacky Dubya Days…
9.16.03
Irritations abound anymore. I’m stressing about things that really shouldn’t stay on my mind 24/7; however, I’m glad to see that I can still revel in my gallows humor. Case in point: My apartment complex’s leasing office, in their infinite wisdom and caring, has provided us all with a handy hurricane survival guide in light of Isabel’s imminent arrival. They also provided a tornado survival guide, just to be extra safe.The hurricane guide tells us all to fill our bathtubs with water, which we could drink or fill our toilets with in case we lose our water service. Rather clever, right?
The tornado guide tells us that, in the event of a “twistah,” we should lie on our sides in our bathtubs and cover ourselves with pillows and blankets.
Guess we shouldn’t forget our snorkles?
9.17.03
So, I forgot another Isabel-inspired funny moment from yesterday. The Today Show interviewed Tom Ridge for his words of guidance pertaining to the hurricane. The Secretary of Homeland Security? Interviewed because of a hurricane? “We must rise up against Mother Nature’s terrorist attacks!”Next step: little “w” will wage war on the environment.
Oh wait…
9.17.03 :: midday edition
John Ashcroft is defending the USA PATRIOT Act’s provision that the Department of Justice can subpoena library records to see what we’re reading. Oh no. Now they’ll see that I recently read The Stepford Wives and my plot to replace little “w” with his Disney audio-animatronic peer will be thwarted.If I were Ashcroft, I think I would be more worried about the American people actually reading this piece of Orwellian drivel.
By the way, USA PATRIOT is actually an acronym. It stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” Doesn’t it warm your heart and chap your ass to know that your tax dollars helped pay for word jockeys to come up with this absolutely useless manipulation of emotion-inducing verbiage?
9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–8:30 a.m.
I’m sitting in my little veal pen (read: work cubicle), staring out the windows, waiting for the portentous arrival of Isabel. Only those who live in or have ever lived in the D.C. area could understand the hype that we inject into a mere meteorological event. Even one of this magnitude can be embellished to god-like status. At this point, I’m almost certain that Isabel has risen to the right hand of Zeus in her powers. Thank the gods that we never saw the likes of Hugo in this area. I don’t know what we would have done…On a more politically minded jag, I still believe that we can make a difference if we just make the effort to make our thoughts known. I also believe that politicians are only as powerful as we allow them to become. Finally (for now), I truly believe in the quote, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It’s time to start raising our voices a little louder. It’s time to stop the power-hungry from believing that they have absolute power. Maybe Isabel will take some of the trash in D.C. with her when she sweeps through…we just need to help her out a little bit.
9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–11:30 a.m. and still waiting…
Oh, but she is beautiful…
Thank you, NASA, for this breathtaking photo.
9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–1:30 p.m. and there’s rain
The most powerful government of the most powerful nation in the world is now officially closed. Because of rain. And a little wind. It’s at a moment like this when I wouldn’t live anywhere else on earth.So, I don’t even know that much about Wesley Clark yet, and already the daily rag has moved on to speculate about Hillary Clinton’s potential entrance into the Democratic fray. Someone needs to take the controls of this ever-growing train. Anyone? Hello?
9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–3:30 p.m. and it finally begins
I think this is going to be the final update for the day (I’ve hit a record for entries today, no?). It’s finally starting to look properly foreboding, and I believe I may be freed from my pen early today (either by company choice or by…personal furtive movements).Time to go watch Mother Nature at her canvas…it’s a thrilling sight to see…
9.18.03 :: Hurricane Isabel edition–9:30 p.m. with artistic reflection as I walk my dog
Smoke wisp clouds–violet in the glare of city lights still burning; silver over the dark of powerless streets–mottle and streak indigo sky.The rain has stopped–Mother Nature’s respite of water and wind near the midnight hour. Trees glow iridescent with waxy leaves shining wet and bright.
Isabel rests.
9.19.03 :: Aftermath?
Again the federal government is closed. Doesn’t it make the workers wonder, are they at all necessary?We lost power in our apartment complex at around 1:00 a.m. Even half asleep, I realized the surreal beauty of complete darkness.
Power is back though, and life continues…for some. Most, I think, have chosen to remain indoors for the moment. That’s fine with me…I like the quiet.
“You Don
I know a little bit about what she’s capable of. She’s been the head coach of the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols since 1974. During this time, her coaching skills have brought UT 1,037 victories; her teams have only been defeated 196 times. She’s led the Lady Vols to the Final Four 18 times
BookBin2011: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
I’m in the process of reading another book, but I also picked up a small stack of graphic novels during my last trip to the library (I can’t not get books when I’m in a library, denizens…I’m just too weak), and they’ve been taunting me with their colorful goodness ever since.
Especially this particular collection. Anyone who has been following my reading exploits here at the lair knows that I do loves me some Neil Gaiman. Even when I’m less than impressed by one of his offerings, I still find something enjoyable to his skills as a writer.
So finding out that he had penned a two-part comic for Batman in the vein of Alan Moore’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel? was quite a delightful discovery. Even though I was less than enamored of Moore’s take on Superman’s fate, I liked the concept of giving an “end” to an unending character.
[Loba Tangent: Does that make sense? If you’re a comic book fan, I suppose it does. Because comic nerds and Trekkies both know: No one ever really dies in these universes. They just come back as blonde Romulans.]
Gaiman, however, has written an amazing two-part tale for the Caped Crusader, a beautiful take on the eternal recurrence of the Batman mythos. It’s so perfectly penned, this fever-induced dream scape in which Batman’s demise is retold in myriad ways from myriad sources, each one subjective and surprisingly sentimental. Alfred’s story is particularly poignant and gives a view of the Caped Crusader that is heart-rending and bittersweet. And the ending? Pitch perfect, IMHO.
This collection is rounded out with three other Gaiman-penned tales, including one that is a delightfully meta take on the comic book character existence being similar to that of actors on set filming scenes for a movie. The interaction between Batman and the Joker is delicious and the rather abstract artwork adds to the surrealism of the story. The final two tales focus on Poison Ivy and the Riddler and are relatively Batman-free minus flashback appearances. Both are yet more exceptional storytelling from Gaiman, presented from his rather unique perspective on the inhabitants of Batman’s beloved Gotham.
The artist for this collection was Andy Kubert, who has worked on major titles for both Marvel and DC, with inking by Scott Williams and coloring by Alex Sinclair. It’s difficult to truly judge Kubert’s artistic style here, because Gaiman asked him to base his drawings on the artistic styles of past Batman artists like Jerry Robinson, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, and Batman’s creator Bob Kane. As a mimic of these other styles, Kubert does an admirable job. However, I think that I was less than impressed by the overall impact because I am still reeling from the incomparable beauty of Blacksad.
I know, it’s not fair at all to compare these two graphic novels…but, seriously, denizens? Blacksad is GORGEOUS. Anything that follows it is going to be like being the kid who has to follow the honor roll student who built a working scale replica of the planets’ trajectories around the sun…and all you have is a papier-m
Bajoran Down!
As some of you might have heard, we had a bit of a rumble in our area today. Okay, so not so much a “bit.” It was enough that my work building jiggled like a Jell-O mold for the better part of a minute. Fun for Jell-O. Not so fun for brick, steel, and glass, I can assure you. To be on the safe side, building maintenance evacuated us to the streets, where we stood about like disconnected drones for 20 minutes, holding our cell phones skyward, as though bringing our gizmo gods that much closer to their mother signal would somehow miraculously make them work. Then we went back in and carried on with our day.
No harm, no foul.
Until I got home. And found the body.
Poor Colonel Kira. Apparently, things rattled enough in our house that she took a tumble from my action figure shelf, her weapon nearly lost to the detritus of the shredder basket. I have to admit, I had a bit of a CSI moment when I pulled out my digital camera and started to “photo-document the scene.” I felt like I needed those numbered evidence markers to lay out, or at the very least some latex gloves.
And then there was Xena…
Rather than flipping over the edge and following Kira, she slipped backward…into Captain Picard’s crotch. While Dr. Crusher watched. Not the wisest decision made by the Warrior Princess, to be sure. She does, however, have many skills. Perhaps eluding a territorial CMO with a hypo full of poison is one them. Or maybe she’s convinced Batwoman to have her back. I doubt Ro would come to her rescue; she looks quite apathetic to the whole thing.
And there you go. Obviously, all is once more stable in the lair (or as stable as possible for me). I’m geeking as normal. Maybe even hyper-geeking: I would like to point out that in one short post, I have mentioned Trek, CSI, Xena, and Batwoman. All I need to do is point out that you can see Wonder Woman’s shield in the corner of the Xena pic and Starbuck’s flight helmet near Xena’s feet and I’m set with most of my major fandoms.
Xena’s not the only one with many skills…
Flashback Friday: “I Want Your Hands on Me”
So I was driving home yesterday in some of the worst rush-hour traffic I’ve encountered in quite a while, and I needed something to brighten my spirits a little. Something like the 80s playlist on my iPod, full of all the synth-heavy cheese one needs to combat those Beltway blues. And that’s how I rediscovered this little gem:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W7u7g7oV68&w=640&h=510]
What I love the most about this version of the song (and I do have both the Sinead-only version as well as this Sinead/MC Lyte version, a bizarre collaboration that wasn’t matched until Missy Elliott and Nelly Furtado joined forces for the Tomb Raider soundtrack remix of “Get Ur Freak On”) is the movie to which this will always be linked in my mind: 1988’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
Yeah, I can hear those gears turning in your brains right now. Let me help you out: This song was at the beginning of what I consider to be one of the strangest and most visually memorable of Freddy Krueger’s kills, not only for this movie but of all time. I like to call it “Cockroach Crunches.”
Oh, but I miss the days of prosthetic make-up and practical effects.
The best thing about watching the music video on YouTube is that you can see that several others found their way to the song because of Freddy K. My favorite of the comments that I read was “Thumbs up if a cockroach death scene brought you here.”
The death of poor bug-fearing Debbie Stevens was so memorable, in fact, that back in 2009 Mezco released an action figure of her transformation, as part of their Cinema of Fear series:
I actually saw this figure at the Silver Snail in Toronto the last time I was there. However, I opted to purchase other figures and I left roachy Debbie hanging on her hook.
Another trip to Toronto might be in my near future. And, oh yes, denizens, Debbie will indeed be mine (if she’s still hanging around the Silver Snail, that is; most places try to keep their stores roach-free).
Hmm. And here you all probably thought you were going to get a Flashback Friday on that Sinead O’Connor song… 😉
Cookeh!
My apologies to those who have never paid a visit to that idyllic little vampire haven of Bon Temps, but this silly idea hit me a couple days ago and has been hanging around, waiting for me to do something with it ever since.
Strangely enough, I’m not the first person to want to see a Muppet parody of True Blood:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAZ1-nF3VI&w=640&h=390]
Weird.
As for my own True Blood viewing, I’m still trying to decide whether or not I want to bother with renting the third season. Maybe. But without the promise of Admiral Ro Forrester showing up, I really don’t see the point. I could just as well pop in my copy of BSG: Razor or one of the TNG episodes with Ensign Ro and probably be way happier. And a happy Loba is a preferred Loba.
Oh, but I do love that surly Bajoran…
BookBin2011: Blacksad
Palate-cleansing time, denizens. I needed something a little less dense to recuperate from the exhaustion of slogging through my last BookBin read. So while at our local library this past weekend (where I was ironically looking for The Girl Who Played With Fire), I strolled over to the graphic novel section.
[Loba Tangent: I’d like to point out that our library has set up a corner designed as though they knew one day I would walk through their doors: graphic novels, right next to science fiction, right next to horror. I could kiss those crazy, prescient librarians.]
I noticed a couple of new titles since my last visit, including an oversized book with a bizarre name and a gorgeous and confusing cover. Plus, the font choices and placement screamed homage to 40s-era noir film posters, which also intrigued me, especially when combined with the anthropomorphic punim glaring at me through the ciggie smoke.
Blacksad was a remarkable find, denizens, and one we can thank Dark Horse Comics for bringing to the U.S. market. It took a while for these comics to be translated from their original Spanish into English; in fact, the third offering in this collection had never appeared in translated form until this compendium. But I can assure you, it was worth the wait.
Author Juan Diaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido combined efforts to bring to the page a gloriously gritty send-up to classic noir tropes of a bygone era…with an animalistic twist. All of the characters, including P.I. John Blacksad, are animals: cats, dogs, polar bears, deer, magpies, horses…all drawn in ways that are eerily human. At times the quality of expression and movement is disconcerting, but the overall effect is stunningly satisfying.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s worth it to pick up a copy of Blacksad solely for Guarnido’s artwork, full of enough detail to ground it in the reality of its chosen time frame, but presented in these rich watercolor diasporas that give each tableau a hauntingly memorable quality.
Final Verdict: High-quality hard-cover collection of fast-paced, well-written stories presented through some of the most gorgeous, gritty illustrations I’ve ever seen in comic book form? Definitely at the top of my wish list for ASAP addition to my library.
BookBin2011: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
I do believe I suffer from an incurable case of hype-hurdle-itis. The more a particular something is glorified by critics and the general public, the more likely I
Flashback Friday: Ray of Light
So I mentioned last Friday that one of my future flashbacks would be a response to an ImagiFriendTM challenge. I’m to blog about music. While drinking.
Well, guess what, denizens? Loba has, indeed, been partaking of a great deal of beer-y goodness this evening. And it still continues to flow as I type. I’m finishing up the vestiges of a double chocolate stout, which is chasing on the heels of a London ale, a smoked porter, a…something dark…followed by a something lighter but not too light because I hate those beers…bottom line is, I’ve been drinking. Drinking to the point where my tongue feels a little numb and everything has that pretty hazy glow. And I’m still drinking. So that part of the challenge is being met.
What sparked this challenge was two-part and started with this review of Madonna’s most recent CD, Hard Candy. The only comments I would add to this review are that the only thing hard about this album is trying to listen to it. And, just like candy, it indeed sucks.
The second part of the challenge came from this post, in which my ImagiFriendTM expounds upon memories of the music that served as the soundtrack to his youth.
It’s like a Flashback Friday. Only better. And boozy-awesome.
Well, denizens. I can’t really expound on music in any sort of knowledgeable way. I think I’ve proven that every time I’ve written something tagged under my Music category.
Wow. That’s a weird cross-selection of posts, innit?
But I can tell you why I love Madonna’s Ray of Light and why I think it’s going to be remembered as her greatest album EVAR.
First, a little backstory. RoL was Madonna’s first new studio release since 1994’s Bedtime Stories. This ’94 offering is actually a fine album and indicative both of her continuing evolution away from her early bubble gum pop days and her journey toward a more mature sound and style. I think the evolution had actually begun on 1992
