New Logo, New Poster, New URL and Breaking News
I’ve changed the branding – if you will – of my Blogathon efforts. People may not want to donate to some guy named Steve, but I defy anyone to resist Ben’s charms when he’s wearing his Superman shirt and cape!
While I was designing the poster, I realized that I needed a quick link to my Blogathon category…which lead to the new url: www.steve-blogathon.com. That’s much easier to remember than chiro-gra-fem-whatever…at least at a glance!
The breaking news is that I’ll be giving away comics as prizes throughout the course of the Blogathon. Some of these comics will come from my personal collection. Others will be donated by…wait, I can’t say yet. I’m waiting for a confirmation email…
Stay tuned!
Happy Birthday, Naomi!
You are 32 months old today, and you are going to love every minute you spend at the pool this summer.
Wading Pool’s Open!
Guess where we just spent the last two hours?
I Can’t Believe I Survived the Daycare Fun Fair!
Take a playground, a BBQ, three bouncy castles, bubble wands and balloon animals. Then add 80 kids from 2-6.
One Month Until the Blogathon
…and I’ve created a Facebook Event. Next step, the mass email!
Believe the Hype
Fifty words is a grave disservice to this excellent series, but it’s all I can do. The first three seasons cover the Jimmy McNulty vs Stringer Bell trilogy.
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The Wire: Season 1 I was hooked right from Rawls’ first speech to McNulty – “You have my attention now!” – but the deal was sealed when I saw how the background figures were used as character, not set dressing. The cat-and-mouse game between cops and cagey dealers is never more thrilling than in this season. |
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The Wire: Season 2 The case starts out with something small – a rivalry between a police chief and a union steward – that leads to an international criminal syndicate that is too big for the Baltimore cops to handle. This season explores the loyalties of all manner of gangs, and shows all loyalties as personal. |
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The Wire: Season 3 Abandons the structure of a single investigation in favour of a sprawling narrative about transition: mayoral elections, one street gang overcoming another, Stringer Bell going legit, a soldier going straight, and a police chief quixotic response to the drug-related violence. This is my favourite season, but the least suitable introduction. |
A Fine St. Jean Holiday
Having a day off on Tuesday feels weird…like everybody decided to skip work for the day.
We made the most of it: bubbles and slides at the park with the kids this morning, hot dogs for lunch, Ben played with Nathalie in the afternoon while Dina planned craft project and Naomi and I snored our way through much-needed naps.
That’s my kind of holiday!
(I did find time to get some work done…a freelancer knows nothing of these things called holidays. [grin])
Nothing to See Here, Move Along
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27 Dresses Sometimes, the best part of watching a chick flick is watching the chicks. Katherine Heigl shows her gift for goofball comedy as the pliant romantic heroine, and Judy Greer snarks as the drunk sidekick. No surprises here, save for the fun opening sequence where Heigl commutes cross-town between two weddings. |
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Superbad Lived down to its title, much to my surprise. The trailer had Dina and I gasping for breath, but this extended version bored us to tears, despite some golden moments with Michael Cera (“These Eyes”) and McLovin. Cutting Jonah Hill’s dull porno speeches would revive the heart of the film. |
One Way of Looking at a Cool Show
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Saving the World: A Guide to Heroes, by Lynnette Porter, David Lavery and Hillary Robson Unlike the Serenity and Veronica Mars books from SmartPop, this is a printed fan site than an eclectic assortment of approaches to the show. There’s some interesting essays on multi-media marketing and on Kring’s original concept, but there are too many tables and too many comparisons to Lost. |
A Day Late, But Not Too Late
I managed to pick up a few Free RPG Day goodies today, after the rush.
There were two stores in the area: Valet de Coeur was holding a two-day “Learn to Play D&D 4e” event, and they still had a few books available. From them, I picked up the latest Tunnels & Trolls, StarSiege: Event Horizon, Heirs to Olympia, Traveller Introduction and Hunter: The Vigil. In the spirit of the day, I bought a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics #50: Vault of the Iron Overlord, because it was written by Monte Cook & Soren Keis-Thrusup, and because it has a spinning wheel map, which is a gizmo not to be missed.
The other store in my area is much closer, but I’d never heard of it before. They also have extra product, but they’re giving the rest of it away next month, which is pretty cool idea in my book.