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The Golden Cloud! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Bill Humphries — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:49:37 +0000

Penny Arcade considers the OnLive render-that-stuff-in-The Cloud™ hype that had the Game Developers’ Conference buzzing.

Adorable Mutant Freaks

Bill Humphries — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:57:07 +0000

My friend Lea adopted a little white kitten, which she named Zero. She also illustrated a couple of issues of Transmetropolitan, so the photoshopped image of said kitten should not be a surprise.

Dæmons Explained

Bill Humphries — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 03:07:59 +0000

Without them we become hollow-eyed, half-alive, wraith-like shadows of ourseves. [via Janice Gelb]

Justice has a Call Numberâ€¦

Bill Humphries — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 04:41:27 +0000

It’s 1973, a 19th Century Bible has gone missing from the Oakland Public Library, and Inspector Bay has three days to find it. Return with us now to the days of acoustic coupler modems, microfiche borrower records, and no nonsense library cops in Jason Shiga’s graphic novel, Bookhunter.

Dorothea and Ed, you need to read this.

See also: R.O.D. [via Michael Roberts in a Making Light comment thread.]

You can read that line a couple of ways.

Bill Humphries — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 05:09:41 +0000

Lore has another interpretation of Charlie Brown's Halloween lament.

3 Laws of Disco Robotics

Bill Humphries — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:15:12 +0000

Scott Bateman updates Dr. Asimov.

Cathedral Child online under CC License

Bill Humphries — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:22:18 +0000

Lea Hernandez released her 1998 steampunk manga Cathedral Child online under a Creative Commons license.

OEL Romantic Science at Its Best!

Texas STEAMPUNK!

The WILD WEST GENIUS GIRL!

Nefarious VILLAINS!

A Dashing HERO!

Adorable Middle-Aged People in LOVE!

WEREYOTES!

JACKELOPES!

…aaaaaaand…

PEACHES!

Just Another Village of the Damned

Bill Humphries — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:36:10 +0000

While I was not exactly the audience they had in mind, three things in Hot Fuzz made me smile:

Desk sergeant reading a Iain Banks novel.
Pub playing Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me).
Skellingtons reference.

Dana Stevens has the best summary of the movie: Hot Fuzz is like an Agatha Christie novel directed by Michael Bay and adapted for the screen by P.G. Wodehouse.

Update: Dave, in the comments, says he thought he saw the two desk sergeants (both played by Bill Bailey) reading both Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks. I asked some other people who saw the movie, who confirmed it. This adds another layer to the joke. Both Banks are the same person, but Banks’ science fiction is published with the middle initial.

Everyone calls me “ma’am” these days

Bill Humphries — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 05:31:08 +0000

Today’s the 10th anniversary of the first broadcast of Welcome to the Hellmouth. I didn’t get into BtVS until Cynthia urged me to watch around the end of season five, “I’m just getting into it and they kill off the title character.”

Of course, I got Cyn back: “hey, Avram mentioned this Japanese cartoon, His and Her Circumstances, on his LJ. I rented the first volume and it’s a hoot. You should come over and watch it.”

Meanwhile, Dark Horse’s “Season Eight” of Buffy, written by Joss Whedon, is due in stores this Wednesday (thanks, Will.) Buffy has an energy weapon. Shiny.

“I heard she killed a man with swears and fabulous.”

Bill Humphries — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 21:22:06 +0000

Lea Hernandez ran up to Austin from San Antonio to participate in 24 Hour Comic Day at Austin Books, she’s blogging each page over at her Live Journal.

Support Comics, A fundraiser for Lea Hernandez

Bill Humphries — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 07:32:16 +0000

Long-time readers will recall Lea Hernandez’s manga explanation of how XML Schema sucks the life out of hapless programmers that appeared in this blog last year.

Lea’s house burnt down earlier this month, and the comics community and her friends have all pitched in to help her and her family through the crisis.

However, you, dear reader, can help as well and score some great comic art. Zeus Comics is hosting a benefit for Lea and her family on Saturday, September 30 in Dallas.

Bento Physics

Bill Humphries — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 04:57:39 +0000

Matthew Arcilla, who I know through his snarky blog on comics and Philippine pop culture, has a new blog he’s co-writing with Jamila Nedjadi where they consider Manga and Anime while trying to steer clear of fannish squeee and desiccated theory-speak.

A Bald Kevin Spacey is not a Sufficient Villain

Bill Humphries — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 06:43:23 +0000

Brad Wilson’s reluctance to see Superman Returns hits on a reason I prefer series over feature-length movies:

Smallville’s Lex is smart, devious, capable, and above all, not yet evil. The on-again, off-again friendship between Lex and Clark, and the tremendous loyalty that they have both shown to each other, makes the idea of seeing a fully-evil, hell-bent on destruction Lex a lot less interesting. The Lex of Smallville is a conflicted, emotional, sometimes unstable human being. The movie Lex has tended to be an unrelentless force of super-human evil, a character of less dimension and interest.

When you have 24 episodes a season, you can afford to develop characters in depth. And if you’re working with a mythos with nearly 70 years worth of comics, movies, and cartoons, you need that space.

Look at that Beetle Go

Bill Humphries — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 06:34:09 +0000

Aside to John Rogers: that was a clever reference to Life on Mars in Blue Beetle #4.

Maxwell’s Heat Pump

Bill Humphries — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:09:30 +0000

Can I buy one of these at Fry’s?
Can I buy one without eternal damnation?