I would so totally buy Sousaphone Player.

From The Onion archives: Suicide letter full of Simpsons references.

Ingmar Bergman, dead at 89.

Tom Snyder, dead at 71.

Viva Pinata coming to the Nintendo DS. Quite interesting, seeing as Rare, developer of Viva Pinata, is owned by Microsoft. Though as Microsoft is not yet in the handheld videogame market, partnering with Nintendo isn't too strange.

Viva Pinata was heavily influential in my decision to purchase an Xbox 360, as a game which proved there was more to the console than first-person shooters. I must admit, I haven't been playing Viva Pinata much, mostly because it's a very difficult game. I think I need to start my garden over, with more careful planning, and fencing to keep pinatas from fighting (good fences make good pinatas). But it is a very cute game, perhaps too difficult for the kids that make up the target demographic, but then little kids probably don't care if they get every variety of pinata, and will enjoy watching them fight. And who doesn't enjoy watching two Whirlms doin' it?

Spiderman meets Planned Parenthood. "Spider-Man's getting ready to give kids the real truth about birth control and chew bubble gum. And he's all out of bubble gum."

Hello Kitty, Goodbye Dignity. "Attracting the attention of the camera young priest in oneself you are not wrong the shank," indeed!

Well, my sister ruined Comic-Con, so I won't go into as much detail as I originally intended (angries up the blood), but I should just note a few of the highlights:

The Simpsons panel was just the best thing ev...oh, wait, I wasn't there. Thanks a hell of a lot, asshole houseguests! Oh there I go, getting myself in a snit. Back to happier news.

Futurama is back! Of course, I knew this, and knew they were coming to Comedy Central, but it was nice to get the details. Four direct-to-DVD movies, the first one, Bender's Big Score, to be released in November 2007. The movies will be sliced up into 16 TV episodes, to air on Comedy Central in 2008, along with the old episodes. The writers are all writers from the TV days, so that's a good sign, and all the voice actors returned (and all were at Comic-Con, including Katey Segal in her first Comic-Con appearance). The animation, in widescreen and HD, is supposed to be even better than the previous incarnation, while the budget constraints of basic cable means the show will no longer use a live orchestra for the sountrack, relying instead on synthesizers. The trailer was amusing, with lots of digs at their corporate overlords, railing against Twentieth Century Box for cancelling Planet Express' primetime delivery schedule. In a similar vein, a good portion of the panel consisted of the voice talent of Futurama reading a comic book that was distributed at Comic-Con, which followed the travails of the Planet Express team as they moved from Twentieth Century Box to the time loop that is the Carton Network (John Dimaggio's impression of Peter Griffith was freakin' sweet!), to their revival thanks to the unwashed nerds of Package-Con in Space Diego. This was followed by a Q&A session, which didn't reveal too many more facts, but led to a freewheeling discussion of the various voices on the show and their origins. I had to brave quite a crowd to get into this panel, but it was one of the most interesting panels I attended this year. But that may be because certain forces conspired to keep me from attending certain panels...jackasses...oops, there I go again.

The Boondocks panel was a lot of fun. The Boondocks is one of those shows I don't think I like, that I think is very much hit or miss, but then when I start talking about episodes I liked, I begin to realize there were some really genious episodes. And now that they have some experience, the new season should be even better. I don't want to spoil too much, I'll just say the panel opened with the trailer for a film parody, I would hate to ruin by discussing here. But the new season looks good, and the Q&A was hilarious; much like Bruce Campbell, the panelists were quite adept at slicing through the Comic-Con question bullshit and creating something hilarious. I'm eagerly awaiting the new season.

There were other bright spots at Comic-Con, but as I'm still steaming about this year's convention being spoiled for me by inconsiderate twits, I think I'll stop here. Maybe I'll put up some pictures later, but I don't think I photographed anything too earth-shattering. I just wish I hadn't pre-registered for next year already, because if my sister comes down next year, I'm going to Vegas.

Well, it's Wednesday night, preview night of Comic-Con 2007 has concluded, and I'm already exhausted. I think it's going to be a long week. The crowd tonight felt more like a Friday. I think the sold-out Saturday is going to be a harrowing experience. I gotta admit, going over the schedule, I'm not as excited as I've been in past years. But I said that last year, and once the Con was here, I perked up considerably.

So tonight, I took the trolley down to the convention center, arriving right around 6:00, and moments after I got in line, they opened the doors. The line was quite long, but as usual the Comic-Con crew was quite efficient, and within ten minutes I had my badge and was heading downstairs to the main exhibit hall. My plan for Wednesday was to hit the video game booths, hoping I'd have more of an opportunity to get some hands-on time with the demos. And this strategy worked out pretty well. I got to play Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix, an upcoming Loony Toons Xbox game (I would have much rather had a go at the DS version, which sounds awesome, but didn't see it around), Dewey's Adventure, Godzilla: Unleashed, and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure.

Puzzle Fighter is a workmanlike remake of the original puzzle battle game, and I anxiously await its arrival on the Xbox Live Arcade (I was told it may be released next Wednesday). The AI opponent was ridiculously easy in early levels, but the difficulty can be adjusted. I do intend to represent at the Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix tournament Capcom is sponsoring.

The Loony Toons game for the Xbox 360 stunk. Looked okay, but I was bored within 30 seconds.

I was somewhat unimpressed with Godzilla: Unleashed for the Wii. But maybe I just didn't understand the controls, particularly the motion controls. The graphics looked acceptably good, though not spectacular. Overall, I think it would be a great bargain game, but at the $50 list price, I'll probably pass, and just wait for King of the Monsters to come out on the Virtual Console. Or take a look at the Xbox 360 version (the motion controls for the Wii felt tacked on).

I had no trouble getting time with both Zack and Wiki and Dewey's Adventure, most likely due to their appearance as kiddie games. Dewey's Adventure, I was surprised to find, was pretty fun, once I figured out the controls. What I played of it was a bit on the simple side, but made great use of the Wii's motion-sensing. I was planning on skipping that one, but now I think I'll give it a shot. I couldn't really form an opinion on Zack and Wiki, as the controls didn't seem to work; I couldn't even use the remote as a pointer reliably. I'm guessing the sensor bar wasn't working properly. The graphics really looked quite primitive, but the adventure game genre seems so well-suited for the Wii, and seeing as some of the game's fans are quite vocal, I certainly wouldn't dismiss it from my brief time with a flawed demo.

Beyond video games, I covered much of the floor, just getting the lay of the land. I did stop at the Peanuts booth, to purchase this year's Con-exclusive T-shirts. I got both designs (Pig-Pen and Cowboy Charlie Brown) in an XL, and when I got home and tried them on, they were comically snug on my belly and man-boobs. My mother laughed hysterically at the sight, to an extent that irked me. I'm suspicious that they accidentally sold me a women's shirt; I may stop by the booth tomorrow to look into the situation. Or maybe I'll just lose some weight (it would be good motivation; I really loved the cowboy design). Elsewhere, I bought a book dedicated to Ralph Wiggum, one of those impulse buys you see by the cash register at the bookstore; I bought it to give as a gift next week, so I'll have to read it quick.

Anyway, that's my report from preview night at Comic-Con. I will bring you breaking news from the Con as time permits, but as I'll be busy, tired, and have limited access to a computer (my brother-in-law will be sleeping on the floor in the computer room), there's a good chance I will maintain radio silence at least until Sunday. If you're at the Con, you can find me at the Gumby panel. The rest of the convention, I'll be wandering the halls, asking people how long until the Gumby panel starts. (I kid Gumby because I love, but in all seriousness, what I'm most excited about by this year's convention is the chance to get a sneak-peek at the new Futurama movie, Bender's Big Score)

Barry Bonds home-run scandal somehow becomes feel-good sports story of summer.

Illegal immigrant forgiven by wife and God, puts matter behind him.

Netflix's website seems to have just come back up, after being down since last night. Also, they've cut the prices of several plans by $1, which is nice, I suppose.

I've never played Pokemon in my life, but I did enjoy reading Penny Arcade's account of the recent Gamestop Pokemon tournament, and the response from a young tournament participant.

Tammy Faye Messner, dead at 65.

As a tribute to most people, "Oops! There Comes a Smile" would be infuriatingly upbeat and glib, but since it seems to represent Tammy Faye's baseline attitude, through good times and bad, it seems a fine way of remembering her. And I'll be firing up my Eyes of Tammy Faye DVD tonight; I hope Tammy Faye was as grateful for that film as she should have been (I suspect she was; she's always been open about how thankful she was for the support of the gay community), as it really transformed how people thought of her. As did, of course, her appearance on The Surreal Life 2 (back before the Surreal Life franchise became unwatchable).

MSNBC has an even-handed commentary on Tammy Faye's faith and materialism.

I see I wrote about her book-signing appearance in San Diego here.

Tammy Faye Messner was on Larry King Live Thursday:

Obviously, she doesn't look good, but apparently she had gained five pounds since her last appearance on Larry King. She's obviously running down, but she's tenacious with a capital T. Very sad, though there was some comic relief (around 3:08 from the end, here), when Tammy Faye was asked who she wanted to meet in heaven, she said Billy Graham; Larry King had to remind her he's not dead.

Here's a picture of me with Tammy Faye, in happier times.

As a rule, I don't shop at WalMart. There's probably a political reason for this; not so much concern for the Ma and Pa merchant, as for the most part I shop at chains or the internet, nor necessarily for the way they treat their workers, as I shop at Target, which arguably has a worse record on providing health care. Mainly, I boycott Wal-Mart because of the glee with which they work their evil, and their willingness to rub it in your face. They take out ads comparing anti-Wal-Mart forces with the Nazis. They funnel their charitable giving to advance their right-wing agenda, and, of course, devote an obscenely wasteful amount of time and money to defeating unionizing efforts, which I am convinced is a self-defeating strategy (compare this to CostCo's policy of discouraging unionizing by just treating their employees as human beings). But to be honest, the main reason I don't shop at WalMart isn't so much politics, but the fact that I just can't stand to be there. I used to shop there with some regularity, when it first showed up in my neck of the woods, mainly because several were open 24 hours, and I worked late and had chronic insomnia. At night, they were fine (I'm not sure that any local WalMarts are still open 24 hours). But today, when I go to a WalMart, or even drive by a WalMart to get somewhere else, I find it an incredibly unpleasant experience. Finding what I want is difficult, maneuvering the parking lot usually sends me into a blind rage, the staff is not helpful, and (here's where my left-coast elitism shines through) I always encounter the most disturbing people amongst my fellow shoppers.

In other words, I hate shopping at WalMart, which makes staying away on some principle very easy. But I do believe in giving credit where credit is due, so I wish to tell you that I had a pleasant experience today at a WalMart, taking care of what is, for me, a rather unpleasant matter: getting my oil changed. I never know where to take my car, and wherever you go, you end up sitting through a sales pitch for all sorts of services and additives. They know I don't know much about cars, yet I do know just enough to know that much of what I'm told at those places is bullshit. Occasionally, I've found a place that's okay, but the turnover at those places is so high, the service received changes with every visit. I was going to my dealership, which actually had reasonable prices for oil changes, but apparently, they decided the business wasn't worth their time, and jacked up their price. I remembered Mom spoke well, after having problems with other stores, of the WalMart oil change experience, so I decided to go ahead into the belly of the beast.

For $25, I got an oil change and tire rotation, no fuss, no muss. It took an hour, and they don't have a waiting room, so I just wandered the WalMart, and the CostCo across the street, for an hour, and then picked up my car and was on my way. They keep the experience as low-key as possible; they informed me one tire had a bent rim, but didn't even ask if I wanted to replace it while I was there. And as all they handle are lube jobs and tires, they really don't have much to sell. As long as they keep the experience as hassle-free as it is now, I'll gladly give WalMart my oil change business. Even if it does mean wandering the store, and overhearing a mother tell her five-year-old daughter (with a disturbing glee) why her grandfather is going to hell.

Updates to some recent posts:

I went ahead and converted some Lord Buckley clips to MP3, to update my Lord Buckley playlist on Imeem, attached to this post. The conversion process didn't seem to harm the sound quality noticably. I just couldn't sleep at night knowing Marc Antony's funeral oration wasn't included in my Lord Buckley playlist. So what happens when I upload the files? Most stream fine, but "Marc Antony's Funeral Oration" is only available as a 30 second sample. Can't find any logic as to which files are or are not streamable, with parts of an album streaming fine while other selections from the same album don't stream at all. Fortunately, "Willie the Shake" has the same speech, though it's not my preferred version. I do enjoy his discussion with the interviewer afterwards; I intend to work the phrase "every fox has got his box" into my conversation as much as possible.

I just posted an installment of my patent-pending WJCNotW feature, so it's probably too early for another one, especially one that lacks Wii convergence. But I do feel the need to share this with you all: Omegathon, video game uber-challenge associated with the geekfest Penny Arcade Expo, will be kicking off not with the pre-announced Pac-Man, but with Jenga. Like, the physical blocks on a table. I just have to wonder how many spoiled online gamers will petulantly knock the table over in disgust at some point.

Cereal mascots guaranteed not to appeal to children. I would totally buy Klaus Kinski's Froot Loops.

British pagans not amused by giant Homer.

Another hands-on with Wii Fit.