comic review

top 10 vol. 1



writing:
it's written by alan moore. for the unitiated, this means that any random page torn from the book is better-written than the entirety of the twilight series.

art:
outstanding. i think this is my first exposure to gene ha and i really dig his style. he throws in great details, like a tiny, fat, bikini-clad woman amidst the throng running in terror from a giant, drunk monster named gograh who is wearing a "no fat chicks" t-shirt.

conclusion:
buy it. unless you are an idiot, lack a sense of humor or are afraid of ultramice.

found it!

totally biting jarrett's style: what search terms were people using when they found my weblog in the last ten days?

mazda 5 review
dumb safety
party people is the place to be
corporate town hall q&a
gentleman's latte
mazda 5 dumb
mazda 5 rentals
rent mazda 5
mazda 5 review
jarrett reynolds nike
party people and the place to be
(blank search field but came from google, stealth AT&T bot?)
party people in the place to be zack miri
beware the birchmen

i don't think i'll ever be allowed to set foot in a mazda dealership...

still hate AT&T?

...me too!

hate AT&T?

...you're not alone. that a company that large, when gifted with the best-selling mobile phone in history by their competition, can turn around and completely fail to support it and then continually commit customer-service suicide is unfathomable.

this techcrunch post hits every point of frustration for iphone owners (and, thanks to the halo effect, every other smartphone owner on their network) perfectly. i can attest to their many failures as there is a one-block dead zone outside my office in san francisco and i just did a complete restore on stephanie's iphone because she was only receiving texts and voicemails intermittently. it would have been nice if at&t had sent out some sort of notification that, in fact, their VM system was crapping out. no, wait... it would have been the MINIMUM LEVEL OF SERVICE EXPECTED. read the post, compare it to your own experience on AT&T and seriously consider this:

The iPhone will eventually be on Verizon, on Apple’s terms. It’s just a question of when.

If that’s by the end of next year, many of us will be happy campers. I don’t care what I have to pay to break an AT&T contract, I will do so in a heartbeat.

amen.

always be prepared

my biggest frustration with having a broken toe (or any other injury) comes from the negative impact it has on my ability to respond in a fight-or-flight situation. on a normal day, i am constantly judging my situation for vulnerability, defensibility and escapability in case of unforeseen danger. y'know, stuff like someone losing control of their vehicle nearby. or someone having a psychotic episode and deciding to make use of that 8" chef's knife in their bag. or terrorists launching a coordinated attack on the building i'm passing. or the violent genesis of the inevitable robot uprising. or the invasion of earth by extra-terrestrials. or armageddon...

seriously, i totally think like this on my way to work and stuff, but i digress. the point is, it's way harder to attack an opponent or flee nuclear death raining down from on high when you're stuck limping around. this frame of mind also informs my manner of dress: backpacks, rather than shoulder bags, because they're more stable while running and can't be ripped off my person as easily; shoes that i can immediately start running in; just the basics in my pockets so i won't be weighed-down. i'm always shocked at the sight of people carrying a ton of useless crap that they'll obviously have to ditch when the zombie apocalypse begins.

this, of course, brings us to flip-flops. what on earth goes through your head while you're making the decision to wear those stupid things? "it sure is sunny today, i'd better put on some footwear that will assault the visual and olfactory senses of everyone around me, insure i couldn't run away from a slow loris on valium and drastically increase my chances of getting huge, infected cuts on my feet and/or broken toes!" perfect. me? i'm gonna put on my nikes and leave you and your tanned feet in the dust when the ninjas start jumping out of the trees...

how to celebrate jonathan lawrence whitmire's birthday

just in case you missed the tweets or facebook posts, there's a video recap of jon whitmire's birthday shenanigans in the bay area over at my mobileme gallery (not embedded here because mobileme doesn't allow that, flickr won't take files that big, youtube is all scared of copyright infringement and i'm waaaaaay too lazy to set up a real blog on my own site with real hosting). it was shot entirely on iPhones 3GS, many thanks to melina juarez for sharing her footage.

this movie is rated PG-13 for tattoos, language, alcohol consumption and comic violence.

UPDATE: now available with less tattoo footage, thanks to viewer feedback.

fastest wedding ever?

the 4th of july weekend was mental. tattoos, a birthday AND a wedding. bill and whitney got married under the crocker crypt at the mountain view cemetery in oakland. their buddy mark, ordained by the church of the latter-day dude, opened with some lovely words and then guided the happy couple through a one minute vow exchange. we drank prosecco, popped party poppers and wrapped things up hastily when security started poking around. definitely the least traditional and one of the sweetest weddings i've ever been to...

the groom

via leigh's flickr

gundam, go!

whoops

this morning i had the bizarre experience of jumping out of bed to turn off the alarm and promptly falling flat on my face. apparently, my left leg was still "asleep" and not responding to commands from my brain.

it was, however, dutifully sending pain signals TO my brain, all of which were originating in my little toe. i had hoped that it was simply sprained but it is now huge and purple - the hallmarks of a broken toe. moral of the story? take your time getting out of bed...

like my foot wasn't gross enough to begin with...

inked

i learned two things this weekend:

1: it is customary to tip your tattoo artist.

2: getting sweat on a fresh tattoo hurts.

jon, george and i had talked about getting tattoos of futura 2000's gear designs way back in college. that idea, like many hatched in college, fell by the wayside as "life" continued. recently, jon had revived the subject with george and george mentioned as much to me. i enthusiastically expressed my support for the endeavor and we concocted a plan to surprise jon while visiting for his birthday on the 4th of july. of course, the design had to be agreed upon first, so george developed a clever ruse involving us planning to have it done in san diego during comic-con later this month.

the ruse worked, jon was surprised and we all made permanent changes to our impermanent bodies.