Julie Schwartz passed away this weekend. Thanks for getting the Silver Age of comics rolling, and all the things you did afterward for the industry as well. You’ll be remembered long after there are words in a voice-balloon on a four-color page.

My Creepy Valentine – Sometimes it’s the expression on a face. Maybe it’s the off-kilter sentiment expressed in the wording. Maybe it’s just a monkey. These are genuine valentines that no one with half a brain would send on February 14. Gallery 2 is even worse (or even better, depending on how you look at it) than Gallery 1.

Organic Machinery, a showcase of computationally generated insects. Cool.

The Official Laurel and Hardy website.

Historical Museum of Southern Florida (I forget if I linked here before.)

Well, rather than a day out and about, I just took a quick jaunt down to Picasso Joe’s, picked up a root beer float and just got a bit of fresh air. I saw a guy that looked like William Schallert.

Newt and I snack from similar containers. He has a silver pouch filled with pounce-treats, and I have one filled with York peppermint bites.

There’s an offer to get unlimited long distance all over the US and Canada for $5 a month. I think I’ll invest in that, even though I currently don’t make $5 worth of long distance calls. I could’ve really made great use of that back when I was using dial-up BBSes, back in the day. There are a couple of people scattered around the map that I’ve been wanting to talk to more often, and this could be a good way of implementing it.

Who are you? layer-meme

Old gang I put together for Z-squad, years ago.

The “Top 5”

Five Teens in the early 60s, at an abandoned radio station during a freak lightening storm… the place is hit, and they’re transported forward in time to the modern world, and acquire metahuman abilities from the process. A gadgeteer gets them to perform crimes in return for the promise of a return trip home. Ultimately, they’re caught during a caper, and are taken to prison.

Members –

• Johnny Angel (Winged Martial artist 50’s style – sunglasses/ leather jacket / DA haircut, Leader)
• Run-Around Sue (Speedster with a lasso, for some reason – could stick to any surface if she kept moving. atop water, up the side of a building, etc) – Poodle Skirt & the point of the background Johnny’s Girl, Heart of the Group “Bones”)
• Wolfman Jack (Multiform- Big hairy guy to bigger hairier guy- DJ /wild man)
• Long, Tall Sally (Stretching, Serious / educated / on the ball “Velma meets reed Richards” #2 in charge, the “Spock” to Johnny’s Kirk)
• Who was #5? I can’t recall now. Another male… oh, I remember. Cathy’s Clown (Sort of an Acrobat / Ralph Mouth guy. Confetti Flash bombs, cream pies, Groucho nose glasses.)

I played Sue, for a change of pace.. I normally don’t play female characters, but it was interesting to try. I forget who she teamed up with… Maybe it was a variation on Katt’s Ghost-character? It was only a one-shot, but I remembered the ease with which the history came together.

I haven’t thought about Z-squad since 8pm of 2001, and even then it was Grenouielle / Weasel / Ice Gal, not these guys.

Downloaded a bunch of old Laurel & Hardy videos, and they’re some of the funniest things that I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve not seen many of these, and the ones I have seen, it’s easily been twenty years or more since the last time. (They’d come on early in the morning before school, but after Robotech.)

No word from big Kahuna. I’ve called twice now. I hope everything is ok… Rhode Island wasn’t home, either. Not Getting together with the Bro, because he found a last minute paying gig.[update- BK is beat after doing all the press up north this week. No Ren-time. just as well…I think I’ll take a little walk in the cool weather, and have a nice calm Sunday. Until Later, dear journal]

Random Money factoids, after looking to see why paper money is oblong –

• In 625 B.C., metal coins were introduced in Greece. They replaced grain – usually barley – as the medium of exchange. Stamped with a likeness of an ear of wheat, the new coins were lighter and easier to transport than grain, and did not get moldy.
• Until 1929 currency measured 7.42 x 3.13 inches. Since then it has remained at its present size of 6.14 x 2.61 inches–an easier size to handle and store. Since that size requires less paper, it is also less expensive to produce.
• Silver certificates were first issued in exchange for silver dollars in 1878. They offered many varieties of design and subject matter including inventors, military heroes, a Sioux Indian, and the famous Educational series of 1896. An 1886 $1 silver certificate is also the only piece of U.S. paper currency to bear the portrait of a woman–Martha Washington.
• More than half of a dollar bill is considered legal tender, and only the front of a dollar bill is valuable. If you could separate the front of a bill from the back, only the front half would be considered “money.”
• The first paper notes printed in the United States were in denominations of 1 cent, 5 cents, 25 cents, and 50 cents. The U.S. Department of the Treasury first issued paper U.S. currency in 1862 to make up for the shortage of coins and to finance the U.S. Civil War.
• When using the first pay telephone, a caller did not deposit coins in the machine. He or she gave them to an attendant who stood next to the telephone. Coin telephones did not appear until 1899.

one year ago – playing with palm-modem, dream of hot applesauce vendor & snuggling up at a basketball game.

two years ago – bro hit on his bike by a cop, bibles in hotels, walkies, FMM lost use of the Net during working hours, Talk about Chupa / small hands, tiffany in playboy.

three years ago – 100 monkeys debunked, FMM sold Tampa, fending off the end of a flu (history repeats itself, I guess!), Suzy’s crappy computer

current mood: “And then, a butterfly landed on the gun, and changed the settings from kill to Loooove, baby…” – Barry from Angry Beavers.

current music: Best of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy – The Musicbox – On WinDVD

I’ve got at least two condos to look at on Monday. One is very inexpensive but needs some minor work to move in… paint, new vanity, cabinets. The other has a utility room with a washer and dryer nearby. Could be a mixed blessing. more foot traffic, but I can do my gear close to my HQ. I’ll know more on Monday how suitable they are, neighborhood-wise.

Debating if I should beg off the Ren faire and just sit tight at home today. Going would be a god idea politically, and probably pretty fun, but I’m feeling the laziness. I’ll probably go for just a little bit.

Watched my new Godzilla movie last night… Pretty keen that Big G is fifty years old. A pretty different vibe than most of the movies. (He’s definitely something else, this go ’round. Read the linked review for spoilers.) Odd seeing King Ghidorah as the good guy, too. Mothra is pretty standard, as is Baragon (I’ve always had a weakness for digger-mole monsters) . It’s funny how they just sort of pick and choose what elements from earlier movies to use, and what to ignore….I can respect the revised history for the sake of a story. I’ve never been much of a continuity cop for this or comic books…. just keep some fundamentals so we can tell who is who… As long as Godzilla is a giant lizard with radioactive breath, I’m pretty easy… but I think he’s odd to look at with no pupils. Better Reasoning as to why he keeps heading to Tokyo, and a lot of squishy-humans.

A lot of people in this movie (the women in particular) had really bad teeth.

Overall, I liked it, both despite and because of the differences. It’s nice to be able to toggle Japanese with English subs, to an English dub on movies… That, and having all the other goodies are really what makes DVDs worth having.

Unusual line/belief in the movie – “If spirits are a form of electricity, maybe they can be stored in stone, since stones are basically like CDs.”

It occurs to me that most of my birthday presents were on circles or rectangles. Dinner plates & bowls, Game CDs, Movie DVDs. and Gift cards, folding currency, and a book. I didn’t get many gifts in other shapes… no triangles or hexagons at all.

I wonder about the shape of money. Coins are circular, different sizes. Is it so that corners don’t catch on pockets? Economy of metal?

Why isn’t American paper money square, rather than oblong?

Newt was rather talkative when I was ill on Thursday.

Hm… more spam, via dead journal (I only use it as a placeholder, or a location to store entries when LJ was in its “crashadoodle phase”… something that brought up the old dream picture, and hitting that way. Now they’re doing it to my old posts in Deadjournal, too.(You can see there’s a screened comment by the “o comments link Fortunately, I can screen entries I’ve posted in communities, too. It seems to be bouncing around august of 2001 for whatever reason.

Pretend Comic covers – Batman’s Moon Patrol, and Monkey! (link via progressiveruin)…I’m glad someone else is doing the work of scraping the good stuff off of the John Byrne Forums…I’ve never much liked his style of comics… very little creativity, and all of the faces he drew looked the same to me. It’s hard enough to tell folks apart if you get Cap, Hawkeye and Pym unmasked in the same room together. Scroll down for a nice assortment of covers… if you follow the thread long enough, there’s all sorts of goodies, including theme music.

There are some really great coloring-in pictures here –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/paintingtheweather/colouring/

They are all weather-themed famous paintings. (via coloringbook)

Can you tell a true smile from a fake one?

I scored 15 out of 20… 75%. These folks did have a very “British” look about them…I wonder if I’d have done a better score with other USA-folk?

Purportal – That story that your brother-in-law just sent to you and forty other people sounds true… Put it to the test here. (meta-engine that searches multiple databases, including snopes, upban legends, and symantec)

AllRefer has a dictionary, gazetteer, and other reference links online.

Wow, got a load of comment-spam from 216.79.8.162 (zyrtec.ihc-services.com hosted via bellsouth) overnight… this is why I screen anonymous posts. (I haven’t had to screen all “non-friends” yet.) Subject line was “hi”, body was a collection of about 35 hyperlinks for assorted drugs. This is the downside of being so heavily indexed.

They were reported to abuse@bellsouth.net with IP address, time/date, message header, and attack logs, but I don’t expect much to happen.

I get about 10-15 a day that make it through my filters… my bulk mail folder catches about another 30-50, usually.

My mostly-unused hotmail account (only to register on websites or the like) gets about another 30 a day.

Lots of good luck today… Fox wedding weather. Right as the water began to fall, my ride arrived… 3 minutes early. (2 minutes after I arrived.) I was only mildly misted before the big wet came down.

Observation about being on the bus… it was perfect today. The right temperature, smiling driver, smooth ride, and no stinky-types, either.

Well, sickies have pretty much passed me by. I’m feeling much better today than yesterday, but I’m still tanking up on tasty tea and toast with honey.

When I’m a little under the weather, it seems that my normal tunnel vision is replaced by a wider field of vision, but the focus isn’t as tight. Broader view, with less fine detail. I don’t know if that’s good, or bad… just a self-thought.

Random Factoid – ¹/₃ of Americans have consumed ground beef in the last 24 hours.

Who’s taking up my slack?

Also, I sort of like how the ^super/_subscript looks on the fraction there.

Where do you go–
What do you do–
The night after you saved the universe?

Acquire a sense of scale

Ugh.. I’m full of liquids, but I’m still thirsty. That’s annoying.

Medieval ruins found off Atami? Continue reading 6450 playing with formatting →

Heard from the family. Bro says his cell phone was drained, and the momster flaked it. We’ll try again next week.

Sunday, I’ll be putting in a quick visit to the RenFest with the Big Kahuna. I’m actually looking more toward the one in Vizcaya, next month. Hm…Maybe I’ll find some more fun trinkets for my beloved there.

Speaking of loved ones….

(-via beaucoupkevin and scans_daily)

Memes

Never did hear back from the blood relations. I’ll have to try calling again this evening.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Stop Motion & Clay Animation

Great site if you’re into stop motion and clay animation. The link goes to the movie showcase that members of the site have posted. Check out the rest of the site while you’re there.

Coffin-Cam – “Being dead and buried doesn’t mean you can’t have friends over!” I figure it’s a hoax, but even so,it’s only a matter of time before something like this really happens. (via *all over the place*)

Scrabble Experiment in CSS/Xml

I was mistaken, GP and Katt met at the Kaybee in the Pompano Fashion Square.(the Mall of the Dead… Not to be confused with the Strip Mall of Sin, across the street.)

Neat idea… a Chocolate Voodoo Doll. Exact vengeance, and have a lovely little snack at the same time.

Hm. I got stood up for Birthday Dinner by my Momster and Bro.

That’s pretty weird. I left a voice mail with bro, and mom’s phone is just ringing. I wonder if they both flaked on me, or if something is up?

Sakes, I could’ve been eating with the hippies tonight.

Ah well, delivery it is then. How about some lovely eggplant parm for Din-din, Scotto, ol’ bean?

Great Idea! I was just craving some o’ that.

Groovy. Tell you what, you call it in, and I’ll pay.. Whaddaya say to that?

Sure! Got enough?

Yup! $30 in my pocket of fresh B-day money, don’tcha know.

Hey! then get a nice treat, too… a cannoli!

Ooh, good one! that’ll be nice later on.

So, what’s on the freshly opened agenda for tonight?

Hmm.. hard to say. Maybe some Eddie Izzard on the Downloaded movie queue?

I can do that… though there’s also some more firefly episodes, now… and The Maltese Falcon.

Tough call. Let’s start with comedy, and do Falcon… save firefly if there’s available time.

Ok. speaking of call… order supper.

Right. Let me just finish this LJ entry.

Okie doke, but hurry up… I’m hungry.

… for all fellow Cat and Dog lovers. MOA is going for the “broad appeal” exhibits. Methinks any move that keeps the arts alive is a good one.

On Display at the MOA: February 5 – June 6, 2004

Se7en Sins Meme (via pilarcruz) Continue reading 6445 What's up at the Museum o' f Art… →

Well, Dear journal, since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you. I made out like a bandit.

• Lunch from Tokyo Bowl (Veggie Sushi)
• $20 Starbucks gift card
• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah – Giant Monsters All-Out Attack on DVD
• The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
• Dinner at Sushi Rock (Tempura Veggies)
• Tron 2.0
• Simpsons Hit & Run
• Invites to Dinner with the 1. Hippies 2. Bro and Momster
• $30 inside a nice birthday card
• Many good wishes/ecards/IM’s from lots of fine folk.

I’m very fortunate and quite thankful!

I’ve tested Tron 2.0, and it’s pretty darn fun… I’ll be interested in seeing how it plays multi-player online. Only installed Simpsons, though what little I have seen of it looks good. It is a little disconcerting to me that The Simpsons is on 3 CDs, and Tron is on only 2.

Of course, now, I want to stay in, and play my games… but I must leave, more’s the pity.

Lost in translation didn’t quite make it to Danny, but I’ll see if I can’t re-code the VCD in a format that he’s more likely to work with. (There’s some irony there, I suspect.)

Until Later, Dear journal.

On this date, in 1969 at 8:30 AM EST, Boris Karloff passed away. Also, I was born. How’s that for a fun Scotto factoid?

Happy Groundhog’s Day, Candlemas, Pidyon Ha-Ben, Imbolc, Lughnasadh, Thesmophoria, Farewell to Lords of Misrule’s Trickster phase, etc.

You’re one year older, one year wiser,
Rock ‘n roll star, king, czar, and a kaiser.
A room full of friends, a mouth full of cake,
Every present is for you and it feels pretty great.
You’re the man of the hour, the V.I.P.
You get the first slice of the p-i-e,
But first blow out the candles and make a wish.
Put a smile on, cuz it’s your birthday, bitch!

Go Scotto, it’s your birthday
Go Scotto, it’s your birthday

Walkies yesterday had busier streets than the other Sunday’s “28 days” vibe. Looks like very few people on Los Olas give a flying fig about big football.

Also, yesterday, I saw a place advertising “VIET MARKET”… my mind got muddled, and for a brief dyslexic moment I thought it said “YETI MARKET”. I thought that’d be a nice place to get a nice, sturdy hairbrush, or mountain-climbing equipment… but no, they just sold yummy-looking baked goods and Vietnamese cooking supplies. Echoing through my mind was Race Bannon talking to some Nepalese folk, and the quote in heavily accented English… “A terrible justice has been done.” (Episode 22…

Tonight, I go out to dinner with Danny, and find out what computer games he got me.

Update – it was Tron 2.0, and Simpsons Hit & Run.

A sort-of-recently-discovered vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer allows just about anyone with a little HTML knowledge to lead you into thinking you’re somewhere you’re not. A link you click on could display a particular URL in the address bar and a totally different page on the screen. It could quite easily be used by credit card scammers to fool you into giving them your information. For a live example of the exploit, click the following link: www.cbs.com. [update – fixed, if you get a windows update]

If you get taken to a different web site, then you’re in trouble, because Microsoft doesn’t have a fix for this yet. (via World of Stuff, and Netsquirrel)

A year ago, the Museum F Art, Tinkle-pig, Newt, and other palm-cam pics.