| Ahhh spring break rain |
[04 Apr 2007|12:06pm] |
So I'm on spring break from teaching, which is the awesomest. It's a pretty long break due to, I think, Jewlidays, which are the greatest boon to NYC teachers since the 3:00 happy hour. It's all rainy today, making me slightly more reluctant to go out and do some Easter shopping for my fake daughter. But then I realize that going to a toy store is fun for me, too, so I get over it. I should probably eat something soon, though. Thankfully the toy store is in Greenpoint very close to the most delicious donuts I've found in Brooklyn. A late awful breakfast will make my day super!!!!!!! Did you see all those exclamation points?
There were a lot of them.
|
|
| If yer ever lookin for me |
[02 Dec 2006|06:38pm] |
I can be found at listencomics.blogspot.com sometimes. Or goodcomics.comicbookresources.com. Mostly just writing comic reviews or talking about parties at Rocketship. Just so's you knows.
Yeah, I got married. It was good.
|
|
| So |
[02 Jun 2006|07:44pm] |
What, three years?
Yeah, forgot I had this thing again.
In a month I'll be married.
Damnedest thing.
|
|
|
[20 Oct 2003|04:46pm] |
Good things keep happening. The girlfriend and I are working things out, slowly but surely. It's like starting over, and the beginning is just as sweet and dope as last time. Just without the immediate sex. I can wait.
A bit.
|
|
|
[13 Oct 2003|08:19pm] |
So, yeah. It's been a while again. Let's see, where am I . . .
Teaching second grade again and LOOOOOOOVING it. This year is the polar opposite of last year. It's easier, more fun, and more satisfying. Luv IT.
Still with Lisa, but lately things have seemed rocky at best. Within a month it might be over. I'm dealing though and we're trying.
I was robbed in my apartment so I moved. They took my DVD player and almost all my DVDs. That really sucked.
I'm still obsessed with Captain Marvel. Grant Morrison is still a king among men.
I'm still really hot.
|
|
|
[08 Jul 2003|12:56pm] |
How many times . . .how many times. I get busy, I forget you . . .but you always welcome me back, livejournal. You are so sweet and so awesome. Sometimes I love you. Other times you are NOTHING BUT A TOOL! A TOOL I SAY!
Hold me now.
|
|
|
[21 May 2003|08:52pm] |
I may severely regret this question but I'm going to ask it anyway. I'm going to ask "Am I being a jerk?" Normally I don't ask this sort of thing and I often don't like when people do because if your friend asks you that, the tendency, too often, is to say "no" no matter what. But I'm pretty sure the good people of livejournal have no problem calling me on being a jerk.
Anyway, I get an email from my friend Sarah. She's moved to Boston and I rarely see her anymore. She's coming into town this weekend. I say "Great! I am free Friday night and I'll be at this bar with a lot of other people you know on Saturday night!"
She says, "OK, but you have to come out Sunday night to my bar."
I say "Well, that's probably not going to happen. Lisa's out of town this week until Sunday and I want to see her the night she comes in."
She says "That is so f*cked up that I can't even explain it. When was the last time you saw her? When was the last time you saw me?"
I say "Listen, I gave you two out of three nights of the weekend. Lisa and I are VERY serious. When she's out of town for a week I want to see her when she comes back, especially since I do only see her on weekends usually. Friday and Saturday are fine but Sunday is not going to happen."
She says "Well f*ck you too."
And that's it.
I mean, I would understand if I spent the whole weekend with Lisa and wouldn't go meet up with Sarah but I think I'm being fine here. What's the board opinion?
|
|
|
[15 May 2003|08:46pm] |
This has been a ridiculously easy week. I've had long training sessions and extra preps galore. And the kids! They're getting better, by jove. It's amazing what difference one or two kids can make. I still have problems but they're far more manageable than before.
EXCEPT MY STUPID COWORKER KEPT SPOILING THINGS ABOUT THE FUCKING MATRIX ALL DAY! SHE WILL PAY!
Actually, she did pay. Her kids were giving her mucho trouble today.
It's nine months or so I've been seeing Lisa now. We met on nerve.com. Never expected it to be love but as long as the fucking's still there, why complain?
|
|
| Captain Marvel needs our help! |
[15 May 2003|08:45pm] |
You may ask me how I know he needs our help. You may also ask me how the world's mightiest mortal can possibly need the help of we mere geeks. Well I'll tell you.
He contacted me. I had a contact with Captain Marvel, or Billy Batson if you will. For brevity's sake I'll just call him Billy from now on.
Now if you read your Morrison you know that all layers of reality are linked through Hypertime. Ours, the DCU, the Dreaming, Marvel, any other "fictional" diogesis . . .it's all part of one huge interconnected system. Communication between realities is far easier and more possible than some believe.
So I saw Billy on the cover of JSA. He convinced me to buy the book, despite my reservations. I was shocked. At first, as I just now explained to my posting pal Kamandi, I thought Billy was pulling one on me. It's like when someone spoils something about a movie for you, you have a dark desire to do it to someone else to "spread the misery." Or like when Paul shows me pictures of Chinamen eating babies. I thought "Billy is so miserable in this crappy comic that he needed to share his pain."
But that's not the Billy we know and love. Billy's not petty. Billy's noble and heroic and good. So I realized that this wasn't a lashing out . . .it was a cry for help. He's trapped! Trapped in a textual prison he never made.
While reading this comic I had to go back and make sure that it wasn't written by Chris Claremont, the dialogue was so needlessly expository. I'll grant Johns that he does have some good ideas, however his execution is poor. Panel after panel are dominated by these huge, looming dialogue balloons filled not with the sort of things people actually say, but information that he wants to get across.
Information that, sometimes, he doesn't NEED to get across at all. Johns seems to be a writer perfect for the current mood of the DCU. He seems to tie every single little idea together and stomp on the jigsaw puzzle until it fits. Do we need pages of monologues and dialogues about what Dr. Fate really is? No. Dr. Fate is a magic guy in a helmet. That's all I knew when I saw his action figure and I thought he was beat-ass. I read this crap and I think he's . . .crap, he's just a lot of lame stuff with too many words devoted to useless explanations.
Billy is trapped in this! Trapped in a world where he's suddenly sixteen and crushing on Star. Now the crush thing I don't mind at all, really. I think it's one of his neater ideas. I must mention here that Kam objects greatly. He says "The only woman for Billy Batson is his sister Mary," and I can't easily dismiss that, really. But I don't mind him having a little teenage relationship with Star. I don't even mind him being 16, although younger feels righter. Just as long as Freddie's older.
Anyway, back to my point. Billy's calling out. He called me and I'm telling you all. We have to save him. Hasn't he saved enough people in enough universes to warrant our help? I'm afraid we may be the only folks who can help him now.
Now the question is how. What can we do in our world? There are some VERY our-world based things like not spending money on such a lame comic or writing letters to DC but I don't put much faith in those methods. We've got to go to him and save him. Save him with the powers we have.
I'm putting on a fictionsuit.
|
|
|
[15 May 2003|07:08am] |
Circulate worldwide...Add to as necessary
GEORGE W BUSH
The White House
USA
RESUME
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
My father got me a cushy job flying jets for the Texas Air National Guard during Viet Nam. After not showing up for work for over a year and missing a mandatory drug test I was suspended from flying and discharged.
I ran for Congress and lost
I produced a Hollywood slasher B movie
I bought and oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to Chicago White Sox.
With my father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
I changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
I replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money. Set record for the most executions by any Governor in American history.
I became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my father's appointments to the Supreme Court.
ACCOMPLISHEMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
I attacked and took over two countries
I spent the budget surplus and bankrupted the treasury
I shattered the record for biggest annual budget deficit in history.
I set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period
I set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market
I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner
I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record
In the first year in office set the all-time record for most vacation days by any president in US history.
After taking the entire month of August 2001 off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history
I set the record for the most campaign fundraising trips (at taxpayer expense) than any other president in US history.
In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
I cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history
I set the record for the least number of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as have past presidents.
I cut healthcare benefits for war veterans
I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest against my policies (15 million) shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. (www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches)
I dissolved more international treaties than any other president in US history.
My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The "poorest" multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice has a Chevron oil tankers named after her.)
I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
I presided over the biggest corporate stock market frauds of any market in any country in the history of the world.
I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
I created the largest government department bureaucracy (Homeland Security) in the history of the United States.
I set the all-time record for the biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission
I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
I removed more checks and balances and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any executive administration in US history.
I rendered the decisions of the United Nations Security Council irrelevant.
I withdrew the United States from the World Court of Law
I refused to allow inspectors access to prisoners of war and by default no longer adhere to the Geneva Convention.
I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors to monitor during the 2002 US elections.
I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign contributions.
My biggest lifetime campaign contributor, also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy and fraud events in world history. (Ken "Kenny Boy" Lay, CEO of Enron Corp.)
I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the communication codes to Air Force 1)
I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
I took the largest expression of world sympathy for the US after 9/11 and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history)
With a policy of "disengagement" I created the most hostile Israeli-Palestinian relations in at least 30 years.
I am the first US president in history to have a majority (71%) of the people of Europe (our strongest allies) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
I am the first US president in history to have the people of South Korea feel more threatened by the US than by their immediate communist neighbor, North Korea.
I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals and corporations to be awarded federal government contracts.
I set the all time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations that bid for government contracts.
I am the only sitting US president whose father is a director of a corporation and investment fund that directly benefits from US government defense contracts.
I failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden "Dead or Alive"
I failed to capture the person or persons responsible for mailing envelopes of anthrax in an attempt to murder congressional leaders at the US Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads, suspects, arrests, trials or convictions.
In the 18 months following the attacks of 9/11 I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States
I removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
In just two years I have created the most bitterly divided country in decades (possibly the most divided since the Civil War.)
I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years reversed every single economic category to head straight down.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine. (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)
I was allowed to enter the Texas Air National Guard even though my test scores placed me in the lowest 25% of candidates.
I was AWOL for a year from the Texas Air National Guard and deserted the military during war time.
I refused to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker. (They can be reached at their offices at the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering)
Posted by Seal at May 13, 2003 11:37 PM on www.dailykos.com
|
|
|
[12 May 2003|09:16pm] |
Wow, it HAS been a while.
Since my last post I've been transferred to an actual elementary and given a second grade class. I'm much happier now and my kids rule. We're still in the ghetto and the problems are up to the ceiling but we're working through them.
Marcus, did you see the new issue yet? The old stuff, particularly ours, Matt's and Chandler's, are the best, I think. OF COURSE FOR WE ARE GENIUS.
|
|
| BEHOLD |
[12 May 2003|09:07pm] |
I have risen. Lauren has found me in my slumber and now I rise.
I've been insanely busy with my class. My bully's now in another class and my basketcase seems to be out of the school for now. Things are looking up, yes indeedy. I'm even thinking about putting on some fictionsuits and going exploring.
Nobody ever made me any Captain Marvel stuff from this site! VERY BAD!
|
|
| one thing I have |
[04 Feb 2003|08:50pm] |
|
|
|
[04 Feb 2003|08:44pm] |
OK, I'm a dork. You know that, but I'm getting that out of the way first because what I'm going to talk about in this email is really, really dorky.
You probably know I like comic books. Recently, I started collecting stuff that has to do with Shazam/Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. It just kind of symbolizes the fun of what comics and imagination were to me as a little kid. What's more fun at that age than three children who can say a magic word and become superheroes? Well, to some of you, having a life, I guess.
Anyway, I've also been getting professional artists to give me their renditions, and buying already-drawn original works featuring these characters.
I've decided I'm going to put together a binder featuring all this, and . . .OK, here's the really dorky part.
I want work from you, some of my closest friends. It can be a sketch, a photo, a painting . . .you don't have to be good at it. But I want to collect art from friends that is unique and personal. Draw yourself as Mary Marvel. Draw Captain Marvel, Jr. enjoying an inside joke between us. Take a photo of yourself in a shirt with a lightning bolt on it. Something.
I really hope some of you are interested in this. I know it's a lot to ask and a very silly "a lot" to ask for on top of that. If this completely dies and no one is interested, oh well. But I just thought I'd try and see what we got. It could be really cool.
In a really, cripplingly dorky way.
|
|
|
[03 Feb 2003|05:01pm] |
Signs and portents, portents and signs. Children are finding charred body parts in their back yards, freshly fallen from the sky. Madmen and morons rattle sabers in and at the cradle of civilization. Do you guys feel this? I hear tell that people with mental illnesses are talking of a peculiar dread coming over them these days. Perhaps they're just sensitive. End times.
On another note, I got jerked around one more time at school as they "offer" me this alternate position that I can't legally take, and isn't even appealing anyway. It is almost time for class in this shitty excuse for a grad school to which the program has sent me. Three hours of "child development." Eat my ass, the world's about to end.
I'm going to build a rocketship for my only son so that he may survive the coming catastrophe.
But where do I send him?
|
|
| GASP |
[02 Feb 2003|06:57pm] |
I survive, beyond the grave of once more forgetting about my livejournal for months on end.
I remain a substitute teacher in hell. Soon I will have my very own group of bastards, though.
Marcus, I just looked at the latest Plague issue. It was really awful.
|
|
|
[03 Nov 2002|03:39am] |
Last night I put the drun in drunk. Went out with teachers and drank from three until eleven. Called Lisa afterwards and got real emotional, crying like a baby and screaming in rage at perceived mistreatments of my (now former) students. Fell asleep while she was talking to me. Don't remember that or about half the conversation. Had some sort of arguement with a girl about the blues. You can tell this girl doesn't know me, because anyone who knows me knows that talking about the blues will get me heated every time. She did tell me that if she dated boys she'd be after me. I think we held hands and talked about Lisa.
Saw Orange County and saw Brother again today with her. I enjoy hanging out with her, her sister, and the dog at home. Feels very nice.
Sleepy now. Time to make out with the pillow.
|
|
|
[31 Oct 2002|11:00pm] |
Ah, the joy of finding one last raisin in your raisin bran when you were afraid you'd squandered them all too early. When I ate Lucky Charms I used to eat a few normal spoonfuls, then I'd eat only the oat bits so that my last several bites could be pure squishy "marshmallow" goodness. Freud would likely have lots of inferences based on my cereal habits.
So many impulses. Stay teaching. Suck it up and fight through it. Or learn . . .maybe go back to school. But what? More writing? Or something more . . .practical? Or just get a decent paying day job and write all night? Sounds nice but that may very well be impossible here. Or anywhere for that matter.
I'll ride this out and see what happens. I have faith that, as usual, something will open up, better than the last thing.
My kids. How am I going to tell my kids? They made me a sign today "Mr. Mentallo is the Best Teacher in the World!" They were all hugging on me and they don't even know. They're going to be crushed. Bless their little hearts, I love them. I worry for their future. I hope their new teacher will do great things with them. They have so much potential.
Can I get this invested again? Should I? I don't know. I guess I'll just go to sleep now.
|
|
|
[31 Oct 2002|05:08pm] |
I spoke too damn soon.
They collapsed a third grade class at my school. Thus, they had an extra teacher. I'm the new guy, I'm booted.
The Fellows program guarantees me a job. So they're sending me TO ANOTHER FUCKING JUNIOR HIGH. I don't know what I'm going to do except pray that it's not as bad as the last one.
Shit sucks today, but at least Lisa's coming over and even picking up my comics. Last night she came over, gave me the caramel apples she made my class, cooked for me, and was secretly wearing fishnets and a garter belt under her clothes. Oh man that was really hot.
|
|
| PART 4 |
[28 Oct 2002|11:08pm] |
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
flexmentallo's journal