My Review: Week of May 22

Wolverine: Weapon X #2

Worth Reading 2

The science of voodoo: When mind attacks body - health - 13 May 2009 - New Scientist

The idea that believing you are ill can make you ill may seem far-fetched, yet rigorous trials have established beyond doubt that the converse is true - that the power of suggestion can improve health. This is the well-known placebo effect. Placebos cannot produce miracles, but they do produce measurable physical effects.

The placebo effect has an evil twin: the nocebo effect, in which dummy pills and negative expectations can produce harmful effects. The term "nocebo", which means "I will harm", was not coined until the 1960s, and the phenomenon has been far less studied than the placebo effect. It's not easy, after all, to get ethical approval for studies designed to make people feel worse.

Worth Reading 1

Why People Believe Invisible Agents Control the World: Scientific American

The problem is that we did not evolve a baloney-detection device in our brains to discriminate between true and false patterns. So we make two types of errors: a type I error, or false positive, is believing a pattern is real when it is not; a type II error, or false negative, is not believing a pattern is real when it is. If you believe that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is just the wind (a type I error), you are more likely to survive than if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind when it is a dangerous predator (a type II error). Because the cost of making a type I error is less than the cost of making a type II error and because there is no time for careful deliberation between patternicities in the split-second world of predator-prey interactions, natural selection would have favored those animals most likely to assume that all patterns are real.

But we do something other animals do not do. As large-brained hominids with a developed cortex and a theory of mind—the capacity to be aware of such mental states as desires and intentions in both ourselves and others—we infer agency behind the patterns we observe in a practice I call “agent­icity”: the tendency to believe that the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents. We believe that these intentional agents control the world, sometimes invisibly from the top down (as opposed to bottom-up causal randomness). Together patternicity and agent­icity form the cognitive basis of shamanism, paganism, animism, polytheism, monotheism, and all modes of Old and New Age spiritualisms.

Comic Cat

Mondo Marvel #3 is Live!

Has it been two weeks already? Yes.

Did I wait until the last minute again? Yes.

Do I suck? Yes.

Mondo Marvel #3: July-August 1962

This installment brings us looks at Fantastic Four #5, The Incredible Hulk #2, Journey Into Mystery #83 (featuring the first appearance of Thor, God of Thunder), and Amazing Fantasy #15 (featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man).

Enjoy!

Jesus Fucking Christ.

Bakersfield dad accused of biting out son's eye - Bakersfield.com

"My daddy ate my eyes."

A search warrant report said the father "was displaying symptoms of being under the influence of PCP."

Alas, SCC, We Hardly Knew Ye...

Looks like the critical combination of shitty timeslot, low ratings, and Fox not getting a big enough share of the profits has led to the demise of one of the best Science Fiction shows on television, just as it was hitting its stride.

Seriously, the last month and a half of Season Two were as good as, if not, at times, a little better than Battlestar Galactica on its better days.

But Fox renews Dollhouse? Really, Fox? You're gonna play it like that?

Shameful.

My Reviews: Week of May 15

Secret Warriors #4




















Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1

Holy Crap! I Just Had a Dream Like This Last Night...

Toilet snake attack: urban legend comes true? - Yahoo!7 News

The director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."

Especially that snake's mouth.

Gah! News I Didn't Need to Hear...

Man, 30, gives 'birth' to his twin | The Sun |News

Former firefighter Gavin, of Witney, Oxfordshire, said: “Four hospital doctors had previously examined me and were all puzzled by the lump.

“Some thought it was a cyst, others an in-grown hair.

“Then one said it could be my undeveloped identical twin that I absorbed at a very early stage. I feel absolutely fine now but it has not sunk in yet that I could have had a twin brother. I have him in a jar at home and I call him little Gav. I haven’t told many people. I feel like a bit of a freak.”

or at least the place where we decide to act...

Possible site of free will found in brain - life - 07 May 2009 - New Scientist

It's actually about the consciousness of movement - where the impulse to move apparently originates in the parietal cortex, signals to the premotor cortex which then initiates the movement and signals back to the parietal cortex that a movement was made.

Not exactly "Free Will," but then whether or not Free Will even exists is a question that hasn't been answered to everyone's satisfaction.

But interesting, nonetheless.

My Reviews: Week of May 8

Legion of 3 Worlds #4 (of 5)




















Agents of Atlas #4




















Marvel Zombies 4 #2

Mondo Marvel #2 is live!

Mondo Marvel #2: January-May 1962 is up and running. This week I cover Fantastic Four 2-4 and The Incredible Hulk #1.


The column is a little long, so pop some popcorn, pour yourself a tall one, settle in and enjoy!

Samurai Princess

Directed by the writer of Tokyo Gore Police. Produced and with gore effects by the director of Tokyo Gore Police.

Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl

From the director of Tokyo Gore Police.

As if that needed saying.

My Review: Week of May 1

Detective Comics #853

My Reviews: Week of April 24

Ghost Rider #34




















Immortal Iron Fist #25

My Reviews: Week of April 17

Ignition City #1

Captain America #49

Andrew Sullivan For The Win (or Suck It, Douchebags)

Reagan On Torture Prosecutions

The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention . It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called 'universal jurisdiction.' Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution.

Mondo Marvel #1 is Live!

Hey True Believers!

My very first Mondo Marvel column went live today over at Comics Bulletin, wherein I take a fresh look (as fresh as possible) at the birth of the Marvel Universe in November 1961's Fantastic Four #1.

Then look for new installments every other week as I make my way through every superhero comic that Marvel published from there to the end of December 1969! It'll be a long haul, but with your support, we can do it!

Come take a look and then check out the message boards to tell me what you think!

Thanks for your time!

Paul Brian McCoy

Too Sad...

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78

"If you look at the start of his career, he began writing science fiction stories and we was regarded as very avant garde.

"And there was a kind of violence lurking beneath the texture of these novels. And they've come to seem less and less futuristic and you know it's as if we're embodying, we're living in now a kind of Ballardian world."

Go here to read the short piece: "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan"

All Trekked Up 3...The End

All Trekked Up 2...

All Trekked Up...

My Review: Week of April 10

Wolverine: Weapon X #1

Fight Me, Cowards!

It's kind of silly and the only control you have is over who you choose to fight, but damn if I'm not getting addicted to My Brute. At least it only parcels out 3 fights a day. Otherwise, I'd be doing this all night.

I know. It's sad, really.

If any of you cowards want to fight my Brute, and want to continue on fighting and building your character's experience, weapons, and allies, be sure to create a password, otherwise it's apparently kind of easy to lose track of your Brute.

Like you haven't heard that enough.

Oh my.

Oregon Passes Bill "Too Gross to Talk About" - Boing Boing

My Reviews: Week of April 3

Secret Warriors #3

Agents of Atlas #3

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #2

My Review: Week of March 27

Crossed #4

What Looks Good #254: Brutal, Bizarre, and Bittersweet (column)

More Proof the Japanese Cannot Be Out-Crazied...

Apparently this series, Cat Shit One, is based on a manga called Cat Shit One: Apocalypse Meow that was set during the Vietnam War.

I need to see this.

For Very Good Reviews, Go Here...

Pink Raygun - Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror & Comics reviews, interviews, opinion

Why I Prefer Twitter to Texting...

Egypt tries to hang up on killer SMS rumours - Yahoo! News UK

The Egyptian government has sought to dispel rumours that a mobile phone text message "from unknown foreign quarters" is spreading around the country and killing those who receive it.

The extraordinary move by Egypt's health and interior ministries follows press reports that an SMS containing a special combination of numbers killed a man in the town of Mallawi south of Cairo.

"He died vomiting blood,followed by stroke, shortly after he received a message from an unknown phone number," the Egyptian Gazette reported on Wednesday.

Hmmmm.

My Reviews: Week of March 20

Uncanny X-Men #507

reposting:

Watchmen (film)

What Looks Good #253: Irish I Were In Dublin (column)

As Good an Excuse as Any, I Guess...

A mind dismembered: In search of the magical penis thieves—By Frank Bures (Harper's Magazine)

A few days after I arrived in Lagos, an article appeared in the newspaper. The headline read: court remands man over false alarm on genital organ disappearance. According to the paper, a young man named Wasiu Karimu was on a bus when he “was said to have let out a strident cry, claiming that his genital organ had disappeared. He immediately grabbed [Funmi] Bello, who was seated next to him, and shouted that the woman should restore his ‘stolen’ organ.” They got off the bus, and a crowd of “miscreants” swarmed around the woman, ready to kill her. But a passing police patrol intervened, stopped her from being lynched, and escorted them both to the police station, where Karimu told the commissioner “his organ was returning gradually.” The paper gave the exact address where Wasiu Karimu lived, so I decided to try and find out what exactly had transpired in his pants.

Is it Wrong That I Laughed at This?

What Looks Good to me...

I've stepped in and subbed for Michael once again, on the better late than never, What Looks Good #253: Irish I Were in Dublin...

It's St. Patrick's Day themed. :)

My Reviews: Week of March 13

Immortal Iron Fist #23

Ghost Rider #33

BONUS:

Watchmen (film)

Awesome!

Dr Who Dalek found in pond - Telegraph

I don't know if I'd have been excited or scared shitless!

My Reviews: Week of March 6

Umbrella Academy: Dallas #4

New Avengers: Reunion #1

Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk #3

Sub-Mariner: The Depths #5 (of 5)

I Am At a Loss For a Title...

'Radioactive' sex offender on the run - Telegraph

The 42-year-old was due to face trial for downloading indecent images of children but fled Britain after receiving large doses of radiotherapy treatment for a thyroid condition.

Southwark Crown Court heard that Mr Leopold could harm anyone he comes into contact, due to the radiation.

Judge John Price said: "Please warn officers that when he is arrested he might be radioactive."

He added: "This is not a joke."

I Think This Headline Says it All...

Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE To Go IMAX? With Dinosaurs?

WTF?

Okay. I'd pay to see that.

I Hope You Don't Know Anyone Who's Died Around Cinci Lately...

Deters: 'This is off-the-charts weird'

On many nights over 16 years, Kenneth Douglas engaged in his own personal macabre workplace party.

He often brought drugs or alcohol to work and sometimes had sex with women.

At least three of those women were dead, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said Thursday.

But if Douglas is to be believed, he could have had sex with as many as "over a hundred" bodies in the 16 years he worked as night attendant at the Hamilton County morgue.

Blast From the Past

The 12 year old version of me apparently thought that there was such a thing as "Heat Radiation" and "Freeze Radiation." Not to mention "Force Radiation" or whatever it was called, that could knock people down. Hmmmm.

It was kind of cool, though, that the character idea I submitted was made a villain. His diabolical plan was to blow the ozone layer wide open, flooding the Earth with, you guessed it, radiation, making him all-powerful. Or something like that.

And it would have worked, too, if it hadn't been for those damned Dial H for Hero kids. Well, the boy in particular, who just happened to transform into a Hindu god who could do anything imaginable. Seems like cheating, to me.

My Reviews: Week of February 27

Groom Lake #1

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #5

Incredible Hercules #126

Shadow Over Innsmouth in a Minute Thirty-Eight

This is just fucking awesome.

Lyrics by The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

Your First Band and Album Cover

What would your own album look like if you were in a band? Follow the directions below and find out...

Here are the rules:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on "explore the last seven days"
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

-----

And here's the result!


And now, for the credits...

I snagged this idea from Kelvin and wasn't going to actually post it, but when my band name popped up Scummy Man, I said what the hell.

Here's the Wikipedia link to Scummy Man, just to prove I didn't make that up.

The quote is from Ed Norton, which was almost enough for me to scrap the project, but I went with it.

The image is entitled Raspberry Splash #2, by someone named Zaukher and belongs to him. I make no claims of ownership. It was actually the second picture that came up for me, but I wasn't able to copy the third picture, so I used this one instead. I used Photoshop to trim it down to Album/CD size and I think it worked out just fine.

I smell an invasion...

Evil Robert Mugabe hoards lost Doctor Who tapes | The Sun

BBC investigators believe the troubled nation holds some of the early episodes of the cult series which are still missing.

But tyrant President Mugabe has banned the Beeb from setting foot in his country. And diplomatic relations are also extremely tense — meaning researchers are unable to get into the nation’s TV vaults.

My Reviews: Week of February 20

Batman #686

Ghost Rider #32

Dark Avengers #2

John Constantine: Hellblazer #252

Gravel #9

Um, huh?

Ex-police media chief Kevin Loomes masturbated in front of backpackers | The Australian

Defence lawyer Neil Lawler told Magistrate Sheryl Cornack that Loomes had received counselling since the incident and was extremely embarrassed.

"He is aware of the issues that he has to address," Mr Lawler said.

My Reviews: Week of February 13

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3

Thor #600

Bizarre...

Visions of 'little people': The eye disorder that leaves thousands of Britons fearing they've lost their senses | Mail Online

Following his wife's death six years ago, David Stannard has become accustomed to spending quiet evenings alone at his home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

So it came as a surprise to the 73-year-old when he looked up from his television one evening to discover he was sharing his living room with two RAF pilots and a schoolboy.

'The pilots were standing next to the TV, watching it as if they were in the wings of a theatre,' he says.

'The little boy was in a grey, Fifties-style school uniform. He just stood there in the hearth looking puzzled. He was 18 inches high at most.'

Mr Stannard's guests never said a word and vanished after 15 minutes. That night, he says, the walls of his house, which had always been white, looked as though they had been redecorated in patterned wallpaper with a brickwork effect.

The next morning he was caught off-guard again when he found a fair-haired girl standing on his sofa. She also appeared to be from the Fifties, but was life-size, wearing a short skirt and pink cardigan, with chubby knees, white ankle socks and ribbons in her hair.

'I watched her for a while,' he says. 'She didn't move much. Then she was gone.'

In Memorium...

Bad News...

Cramps Singer Lux Interior Dead At 62

Over the course of more than 30 years, the Interior and Ivy surrounded themselves with an ever-changing lineup of drummers, guitarists and bassists, and released 13 studio albums (the last being 2003's Fiends of Dope Island). They also famously performed a concert for patients at the Napa State Mental Hospital in 1978 (which was recorded on grainy VHS and has since become a cult classic) and appeared on a Halloween episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210." Their video for the song "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns" also drew rave reviews from Beavis and Butt-head on a memorable episode of the show.

My Reviews: Week of February 6

Final Crisis #7

Immortal Iron Fist #22

There may be more before Friday, but I kind of doubt it.

My Reviews: Week of January 30

Dark Avengers #1

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #4

Incredible Hercules #125

Huzzah! Um, wait. Define "moderate"...

Alcohol stops men being a flop in bed - health - 26 January 2009 - New Scientist

Huzzah! We've got erections!

Men might want to remember a new rhyme: a drink a day keeps erectile dysfunction away.

Despite traditional views about the effects of booze on male performance, new research suggests that moderate drinking actually protects against impotence in the long term – perhaps for the same reason a glass or two of wine a day cuts the odds of suffering from heart disease.

There is good evidence that excessive drinking can hinder sexual performance after a night out – a phenomenon sometimes called "brewer's droop". The effect has been noted for many years: "[Drink] provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance," Shakespeare reminds us in Macbeth.

But over longer periods, moderate drinking doesn't seem to be linked to erectile dysfunction, says Kew-Kim Chew, an epidemiologist at the University of West Australia in Nedlands, whose team conducted an anonymous postal survey of 1770 West Australian men.

After accounting for differences due to age, smoking and heart disease – all risk factors for ED – Chew and colleagues found that drinkers experienced rates of impotence 25% to 30% below those of teetotallers.

Well, fuck them. They're idiots.

Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some

By mentioning, for the first time in an inaugural address, the 16.1 percent of Americans who check "no"’ when asked about religion, Obama turned it into the most controversial line in his speech -- praised by The New York Times editorial board and cited by some Christians as evidence that he is a heretic, and in his well-spoken way, a serious threat.

My Reviews: Week of January 23

Final Crisis #6

Ghost Rider #31

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2

I'm Not So Interested in the Film Now...

BSG is Back! Grab Your Hankies!

Could it get any bleaker?

No spoilers, but damn. I'm glad I wasn't drinking during that or I might have killed myself when it was over. Definitely not a BSG Party kind of episode. Unless you're in a suicide cult, of course.

But it was good. It was very, very good.

One down, nine to go.

Goodbye, Khan. Goodbye No. 6

Dr. Girlfriend and I just spent the evening saying goodbye to two friends. To send off Patrick McGoohan, we watched "The Girl Who Was Death" episode 15 of The Prisoner. It was a nice little adventure, ultimately playing out as a bedtime story No. 6 was reading to some of the children of The Village. Then we decided to say goodbye to Ricardo Mantalban by watching "Space Seed" from the first season of Star Trek.

Then it was a choice between Scanners and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Khan won out. Goodbye, gentlemen. You will be missed.

Worse News...

'Prisoner' actor Patrick McGoohan dies in LA - Yahoo! News

Bad News...

Ricardo Montalban dies at 88 - Yahoo! News

My Reviews: Week of January 16

Gravel #7

Doktor Sleepless #11

Captain Britain and MI 13 #9

And a guest spot writing What Looks Good!

My Review: Week of January 9

X Men Noir #2

New Year's Resolutions

To be quite honest, I don't really have a lot of things that I want to resolve to do or not do this year. I'm pretty much on track with my life at the moment, and am enjoying where I'm at.

My "Suffer No Fools" resolution of a few years back has been successful, and there's not a whole lot more I think I need to worry about. We don't eat bad foods. We should probably exercise more, but I don't think that's something that's going get much attention for a while, given our work schedules.

Other than that, there are a couple of things that I do want to take care of.

RESOLUTION #1: Get Organized.

January is being devoted to getting my house in order. I've let things slide for quite a while and the clutter is almost overwhelming. Therefore, January is "Get Organized" Month.

In just the first week I've gotten my bookshelves organized, condensing, making space, and getting things shelved that have been lying around for months. That might not sound like much, but check out my library of books over in the sidebar. I've got way too many, but can't give any up.

Anyway, that's step one. Step two was getting my DVDs in order. That was done yesterday, and has also helped to clear out some of the shelving clutter.

Step three is the big one. Shredding. I've got years of old bills piled up (taking up shelf space) and they need to go. Which means hours of shredding. But once it's done, there's only minor straightening that will be left and I can move on to Resolution #2, while maintaining a certain level of order throughout the year.

RESOLUTION #2: Writing.

I write a lot of reviews. 133 last year, to be exact. That's more than 10 per month, which means at least 2 to 3 per week on average, if my math is right. But it could be wrong.

Regardless, that's a lot of reviews. Especially when you consider that each one is averaging around 800 words. That's approximately 106,000 words over the year. That's the equivalent of a big novel.

So, once the house is in order and Resolution #1 is complete (I've given myself until the end of January to do this, but I should be done before then), then I start cutting back on the reviews and start devoting that writing time to myself.

However, being a veteran of two 3 Day Novels and having tried (and failed) a NaNoWriMo attempt, I think I've gotten a good idea of my current limitations. If I put too big a demand on myself and fall behind, then I'll just quit. I know this.

So I'm going to make the ground rules fairly easy and undemanding.

I'm shooting for a 500 word minimum per day - non-cumulative. Meaning, that if I miss a day, I don't fee obligated to write 1000 words to make it up. That's doable. Very doable. And in six months, if I've kept up with the regimen, then that's around 90,000 words. Again, a good sized novel's worth of writing. It'll not be worth reading, most likely, but it'll be a start. And if the groundwork doesn't get established, then nothing will develop at all.

And really, 500 words is nothing. This post is already 550 words, so there's my daily output met. More than 500 should be a piece of cake once I get rolling.

So that's the plan.

I'm not worrying about my health, since I'm poor and have no insurance and already try to avoid doing anything too bad for my body. I should probably think about drinking less, too, but maybe next year. As it is, I think we'll be cutting back to more wine than beer, and trying to keep it to our weekends as much as possible. But I don't want to make a hard and fast Resolution that I've got to try and stick to and then fail.

I'd rather make these about accomplishing things rather than cutting back on things.

Like I said, maybe next year. We'll see.

My Wife Would Like That!

So silly, but made me laugh.

The New Doctor

He looks like the face you'd expect to see on the other side of a Glory Hole. I am not impressed.

Top 10 Movies of 2008 I Haven't Seen Yet

1. Slumdog Millionaire

2. Let the Right One In

3. The Wrestler

4. Quantum of Solace

5. Burn After Reading

6. Tokyo Gore Police

7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

8. Synecdoche, NY

9. In Bruges

10. Che

BONUS 11. Repo: The Genetic Opera

Top 10 Movies of 2008 (in no particular order)

1. The Fall

2. Iron Man

3. Hellboy II: The Golden Army

4. Machine Girl

5. Sukiyaki Western Django

6. Cloverfield

7. Tropic Thunder

8. Red Belt

9. The Mist

10. The Dark Knight

Top 5 TV Shows I've Never Watched, But Probably Should

1. Breaking Bad

2. Mad Men

3. The Shield

4. Pushing Daisies

5. Damages

Top 15 TV Shows of 2008 (in no particular order)

1. Battlestar Galactica

2. Sons of Anarchy

3. Dexter

4. Lost

5. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

6. The Wire

7. Doctor Who

8. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

9. The Office

10. The Sarah Silverman Program

11. Eureka

12. Fringe

13. 10 Items or Less

14. Mentalist

15. IT Crowd

Looks Completely Over The Top

Crank 2 Trailer | The Movie Blog

Patton Scoring Crank 2!?!

Looking a Beast in the Mouth: An Interview with Mike Patton | The Reticule

TR: Of course you are primarily a musician, but have you ever considered doing a score for a game?

MP: Yes, I have spoken to some people about it and started one that was aborted. I’m sure it will happen at some point, but that takes quite a bit more of a time commitment. I’m scoring a film right now. Crank 2. It is almost like a videogame!

My Reviews: Week of January 2

No reviews this week, but...

The Best (and Worst) of Marvel 2008 Column

My Reviews: Week of December 26

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #20

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #3

Immortal Iron Fist #21

Is Santa Claus Really Thor? Is Thor Really Satan?

SANTA CLAUS: The Great Imposter

Mythologist Helene Adeline Guerber presents a very convincing case tracing Santa to the Norse god Thor in Myths of Northern Lands:

Thor was the god of the peasants and the common people. He was represented as an elderly man, jovial and friendly, of heavy build, with a long white beard. His element was the fire, his color red.

The rumble and roar of thunder were said to be caused by the rolling of his chariot, for he alone among the gods never rode on horseback but drove in a chariot drawn by two white goats (called Cracker and Gnasher). He was fighting the giants of ice and snow, and thus became the Yule-god.

He was said to live in the "Northland" where he had his palace among icebergs.

By our pagan forefathers he was considered as the cheerful and friendly god, never harming the humans but rather helping and protecting them. The fireplace in every home was especially sacred to him, and he was said to come down through the chimney into his element, the fire. (Guerber, H.A. Myths of Northern Lands. New York: American Book Company, 1895, p. 61)

The unusual and common characteristics of Santa and Thor are too close to ignore.

• An elderly man, jovial and friendly and of heavy build.
  
  
• With a long white beard.
  
  
• His element was the fire and his color red.
  
  
• Drove a chariot drawn by two white goats, named called Cracker and Gnasher.
  
  
• He was the Yule-god. (Yule is Christmas time).
  
  
• He lived in the Northland (North Pole).
  
  
• He was considered the cheerful and friendly god.
  
  
• He was benevolent to humans.
  
  
• The fireplace was especially sacred to him.
  
  
• He came down through the chimney into his element, the fire.
  
  

Even today in Sweden, Thor represents Santa Claus. The book, The Story of the Christmas Symbols, records:

Swedish children wait eagerly for Jultomten, a gnome whose sleigh is drawn by the Julbocker, the goats of the thunder god Thor. With his red suit and cap, and a bulging sack on his back, he looks much like the American Santa Claus. (Barth, Edna. Holly, Reindeer, and Colored Lights, The Story of the Christmas Symbols. New York: Clarion Books, 1971, p. 49)

Thor was probably history’s most celebrated and worshipped pagan god. His widespread influence is particularly obvious in the fifth day of the week, which is named after him – Thursday (a.k.a. Thor’s Day).

It is ironic that Thor’s symbol was a hammer. A hammer is also the symbolic tool of the carpenter – Santa Claus. It is also worth mentioning that Thor’s helpers were elves and like Santa’s elves, Thor’s elves were skilled craftsman. It was the elves who created Thor’s magic hammer.

In the Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, author Francis Weiser traces the origin of Santa to Thor: "Behind the name Santa Claus actually stands the figure of the pagan Germanic god Thor." (Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952, p. 113)

After listing some the common attributes of Thor and Santa, Weiser concludes:

Here, [Thor] then, is the true origin of our "Santa Claus." . . . With the Christian saint whose name he still bears, however, this Santa Claus has really nothing to do. (Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952, p. 114)

Another interesting trait of Thor is recorded by H.R. Ellis Davidson in Scandinavian Mythology, "It was Thor who in the last days of heathenism was regarded as the chief antagonist of Christ." (Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Scandinavian Mythology. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1982, p. 133) In case you are not aware, an "antagonist" is an
enemy, adversary or replacement.

okdeluxe XMAS card 2008 from okdeluxe on Vimeo.

My Reviews: Week of December 19

Final Crisis #5

Dead of Night: Devil-Slayer #4 (of 4)

Ghost Rider #30

My Review: Week of December 12

Captain Britain and MI:13 #8

I am Sad Now...

Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure - Los Angeles Times

Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.

My Reviews: Week of December 5

Immortal Iron Fist #20

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2

X Men Noir #1

Guest Column:
What Looks Good: Black Dragon Death Squad Edition

Shit.

Sci-fi's grand old man, Forrest J Ackerman, dies - Yahoo! News

Damn. That's Some Hard-Ass Shit Right There...

Women 'killing babies' to end war | The Australian

FRUSTRATED women in Papua New Guinea's Highland region are reportedly killing their male babies to end a tribal fight that has lasted for more than 20 years.

Two women from the Eastern Highlands told the PNG's National newspaper of the slaughter during a three-day peace and reconciliation course in the region's capital Goroka.

Rona Luke and Kipiyona Belas, each from two warring tribes, said the male infanticide reduces the cyclical payback violence infamous in Highlands tribal fights.

If women stopped producing males their tribe's stock would go down and this would force the men to end their fight, they said choking back tears.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Sacto 9-1-1: Neighbor uses lawn decoration to subdue knife-wielding man

When a drunken neighbor came over and threatened his Thanksgiving guests with a kitchen knife, one Del Paso Heights man allegedly took matters - and a plastic candy cane - into his own hands.

In what police said was self-defense, the man used the two-foot plastic lawn decoration to beat 49-year-old Donald Kercell until police could take Kercell into custody, said Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.

Hmmm. This Sounds Familiar...

Counterterrorism Blog: Frustrated Claims of Pro-Obama Media Bias... This Time From Al-Qaida

After observing international press reporting on the incident, these same supporters are now bitterly attacking the media for its "unfair" pro-Obama bias and for deliberately "confusing" the meaning of al-Zawahiri's message.

My Reviews: Week of November 28

Ex Machina #39

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #2

Incredible Hercules #123

My Review: Week of November 21

Ghost Rider # 29

LOL

Andy Borowitz: Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate -- we get it, stop showing off."

Repo! The Genetic Opera

ANTHONY STEWART HEAD!!!

This may be well worth the time and effort.

Euphoric or Nightmarish?

Those backup singers want to sacrifice your children to Satan. Or to David Lynch. I'm not sure which.

Chicken Police?

I wonder if these Chickens would keep Django, Rem, and Emma calm and collected in the mornings?

My Reviews: Week of November 14

Eternals Annual #1

Silver Soapbox Column: The Sign of the Times: The Significance of Marvel's Dominant Market Share, by Keith Dallas, Paul Brian McCoy, and Dave Wallace

Get Your War On!

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

My Reviews: Week of November 7

Marvel Zombies 3 #2

Punisher: War Journal Annual #1

Sub-Mariner: The Depths #3

My Reviews: Week of October 31

Final Crisis #4

Incredible Hercules #122

Skaar: Son of Hulk #4

He Said, Clinging To His Gun...

On Concerns Over Gun Control, Gun Sales Are Up - NYTimes.com

But some gun buyers and sellers never forgot, or forgave, Mr. Obama’s widely reported comment in April to a group in San Francisco that some Americans “cling to guns or religion” in times of adversity.

“It was an annoying comment, and it showed there’s a lot more to him,” said Mike Warner, 38, of Las Vegas, who was shopping for a gun there on Thursday.

Liars, One and All...

While I appreciate the kind words from conservative Republicans, both in and out of politics, who declare how proud they are of America for making the historic choice of the first African-American President, if they didn't vote for him or support him, then what are they proud of, really? They didn't help make this historic choice. They fought it tooth and nail, spewing bile and tearing their hair the whole way.

What was all that paranoia and hateful rhetoric about if, in their hearts, they really think this is a day to be proud of America. They're proud because we stopped them? Because their hostility, slander, bigotry, and all the other reasons they shouted (or encouraged the shouting of) "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!" and "Traitor!" at all those rallies lost them the election?

I don't believe them. They are liars. They were liars throughout the campaign and there's no reason to believe that they are telling the truth now. If the fear of a Black President was so great that they resorted to linking him, however tenuously, to Muslim terrorists, questioning his citizenship, doubting his parentage, his sexuality, his "socialist" agenda (this being the only "substantive" attack against his policies - the others all being slanderous hints and intimations - and some outright declarations), then do you really believe that suddenly they're glad that lost that fight?

If you called him Anti-American last week, and this week are proud of America for electing him, you're a liar. Either before or now. One of those statements wasn't actually honest.

My gut says it's the ass-kissing now that are the lies.

If you voted to stop the first Black President from being elected, you don't get a pass by saying how proud you are of everyone else for beating you. Fucking ridiculous.