Our Thanksgiving was very low-key. We did the dinner thing, sure, with turkey and gravy and potatoes and stuffing and many, many rolls. And then a nap. But mostly we just took it easy. I took it easier than Becky did over the course of the four-day weekend, as she had tons of grading to get done.

We did watch a movie before our dinner, though: Intermission, starring Colin Farrell and a whole mess of other folks. It was a fine, funny movie, set in the movie version of Ireland where everyone swears all the time and children are only slightly above animals in behavior. I don’t know if that’s how Ireland really is, but I just get the impression that leaving any item alone in Ireland for any amount of time is just inviting kids to steal it and set it on fire.

Saturday night we also caught a local program featuring a bit of concert footage from the band Cake. We didn’t get to see them when they recently played Boston, and I’m sorry about that, because they were really good in the bit we saw here. Hopefully they’ll be in our area again soon. I’m not much of a big fan of live music, but this is one band I’d like to see in person.

Becky took time out from grading to watch the Freaks and Geeks box set, which I declined to join her on. Going through high school as a geek outcast once was enough for me, thanks, especially since I was living it at the time. I kind of regret that decision, though, because I liked the moments I happened into the room while she was watching. So I might have to sit down and take a gander at this after all.

As for me, I watched some of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force vol 2 DVD that Dan loaned me, since I haven’t already gone through being an animated food item dealing with interplanetary threats in New Jersey. I really like ATHF and have a much higher tolerance for it than Becky does.

While Becky was busy grading I amused myself on the computer. One thing I did was crank up Beyond Divinity, a PC game I bought probably close to a year ago and had never got around to playing. I’m really enjoying it so far, though I repeat what I said when I first started it up way back when: turn the voices off unless you hate your ears. The voice acting is just appalling.

I also played around with my mp3 collection, trying to rescue it from the damage that iTunes did to it. When I first started using iTunes, I thought it was the bee’s knees, but soon afterwards the new app smell started to fade. Right now the only reason it’s on my machine was because Apple bundles it with Quicktime. iTunes is probably great if you have an iPod, but I don’t have one and have no plans to get one. I found it to be a memory hog and to have a lot of iPod and iTunes store junk built in that you can’t chop out if neither of these things interests you. In addition, I really hated the way it organized my mp3 collection and wouldn’t let me specify any other way.

The newest version of WinAmp, while certainly an improvement on the awful WinAmp3, wasn’t fitting my needs either. Its playlist functions and music library is pretty crude, for the most part.

Something new was called for. First I used a powerful but extremely user-unfriendly program called The GodFather to reorganize my mp3 collection from the stupid way iTunes had done it. Then I tried out a new media player called MediaMonkey, which has been impressing me so far. Unfortunately it has two big issues that are keeping me from loving it. First, instead of ignoring the initial “The” in a band’s name, it alphabetizes it under “T”. So The Beatles, The Cure, The Replacements…they’re all filed under T. Apparently the only solution is to rename them all to “Beatles, The” and the like, which I hate. Second problem is much less critical and more picky, involving not showing the comment field on the ID3 tag. If you don’t know what that means, then it won’t bother you. If you do, it probably still won’t bother you. I’m weird like that. The program is customizable, however, and there are a range of scripts for it that add a lot of functionality to it, so these issues may be addressed somehow.

I also tried out a site called del.icio.us that Matthew tipped me off to. It is, essentially, a group Linktank, only with a slew of additional features. I’ve been playing with it, as you can see here and it’s way spiffy.

Unfortunately, this rends my very soul in two. It’s got far more features and is way simpler to use than my lowly Linktank. It’s got someone else having to worry about code and bugfixes and hosting and such. On the other hand, it’s kind of drab. And if the person hosting this decides to say, “screw it”, there go my links. And I like the Linktank! So I’m trying to think of a way to make the two play well together.

I also did some lego sorting this weekend when I wanted to give my eyes a rest from the computer screen. This year, as a resolution, I need to buy some sets in which grey is not the primary brick color.

But alas, all good things such as four day weekends must come to an end, and work beckons me. Things are still super hot hot busy turbo XL, since we’re trying to catch up on all the stuff that got pushed aside for the huge upgrade release we’ve been doing for the past two weeks. Hence, blogging may be light again this week.

And yes, the leaf bag count in the upper right is still current. Layyyyyyyyyyyyy-zeeee.

To say that we live in a divided nation at the moment would be a vast understatement. There’s a gulf between two groups in this country, a gulf which many people are helping to strengthen by playing a game of “let’s you and him fight,” pitting “red staters” against “blue staters” and baiting them until they battle. I’ve fallen victim to this mindset and I’m looking for a way out of it. I think that this division is going to continue to be a problem until something can be done about the matter of abortion.

There are many issues that polarize this country, but few are as incendiary, pervasive, and entrenched as the abortion debate. For many people on both sides, this is the single issue around which everything else revolves. For the people on one side, abortion represents an absolute rejection of the sanctity of life itself, an inhuman acceptance of murder in exchange for convenience, and anyone able to condone it cannot be entrusted with anything of value, since they clearly have no values themselves. On the other side, it is seen as a claim of property on a person’s body and privacy, a desire to subjugate women and reduce them simply to incubators. Obviously both of these views are extreme, but even when reduced in intensity there remains a conflict that seems unavoidable.

The abortion issue concerns me for a number of reasons. For one thing, I don’t like any issue that overwhelms everything else, whether it’s this one, gun rights, drug legalization, or whatever. There are too many important issues to let one trump all others, and I think that this behavior has led many people to vote against their own best interests and those of society in general simply to express their views on this one topic. This bothers me, but what also bothers me is the feeling that my side, or at least the views of the majority of people on my side, might just be wrong about this whole thing. They’re certainly wrong about how they’re approaching it. And I think that unless they wise up and realize what’s wrong, they’ll continue to lose elections, lose moral high ground, and lose integrity.

First thing, let’s define this debate properly. The two sides are Pro Abortion Rights (PAR) and Anti Abortion Rights (AAR). That’s it. For reasons I plan to go into, we need to lose polarizing, vague, and useless code words like “choice” and “life”. This is not about choice or life, the debate is this: should Americans have the right to legal abortions? Regardless of what orbits this controversy, that’s what’s at the center, and pretending otherwise does no one any good.

The PARs will gladly tell you what other issues — economics, gender roles, religious, and corporate — radiate outward from the core issues, but for all their pontificating on the subject, they have missed a single and critical point that renders all their other arguments moot. If someone believes an act results in the murder of an innocent person, there is nothing you can say that’s going to make that okay. Because so many PARs reject the reasoning behind the moral belief, they assume the belief has no reality. This is an irrecoverable error. When is rape okay? In your opinion, under what circumstances would it be permissible to bludgeon a person chosen at random? This is how AAR people see abortion. The refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of their belief not only prevents any kind of resolution, it only intensifies their rejection of both your point of view and the people who hold it.

PARs are constantly demonstrating this lack of understanding. They oppose any kind of abortion restrictions unless there are exceptions for rape or incest, believing that this proves their compassion in this matter. After all, what kind of person would ask an innocent girl to bring her stepfather’s child to term and deliver that child, a nine-month and life-long reminder of the crime visited upon her? They fail to see that in the eyes of an AAR, what they are doing by allowing an abortion in such a case, is executing an innocent person for the crimes of another. For them, it’s the exact same argument, only with a different victim, one even further removed from the actual crime.

They fail to understand that such loopholes and “compromises” such as allowing abortion until a certain point in the gestation period are meaningless to AARs, as meaningless as asking someone to allow mass murder as long as only males over 30 are the victims, or as long as the numbers don’t get about 1/4 of the population. It’s still murder, and it’s still wrong, and there’s no line or quota you can draw to make it acceptable. AARs treat abortion as an all-or-nothing issue because for them it is. PARs seemingly refuse to understand this, and again, this only inflames and encourages the passions of their opposition.

Those who support abortion rights are going to have to come to terms with this before they can make any headway. They are going to have to come up with some kind of plan or argument that takes these beliefs into account rather than simply dismissing them. The majority of PARs are Democrats, who already have a reputation for being condescending to their opponents, and unless they don’t have a problem with this, they need to figure out how to frame their position in a way that doesn’t reject the beliefs of the other side. If they can’t do this, if their position is simply incompatible with this belief, then they need to figure out what that means.

This doesn’t let the AARs off the hook, however. While I agree that it is unrealistic to expect them to suddenly not believe that life is sacred, there are several things they do need to do to shore up their own position.

First of all, they need to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to cherishing life. Life is either sacred or it isn’t. If it’s sacred for the unborn, it needs to be sacred for the born as well. This means you need to seriously think about the death penalty. You need to seriously think about war. And the environment. Life is not just babies. It’s air that doesn’t kill people. It’s a legal system that doesn’t kill people. It’s conflict resolution that doesn’t kill people. You can’t pick and choose which lives are sacred and which are forfeit without severely weakening your argument. If only God can make or take lives, you need to let Him do so and quit deciding for Him. And in addition, you need to make sure these babies have a support system once they are born. That means quality health care, an efficient social system, livable wages for their parents. The PARs have woven a net of related concerns around their stance on this issue; perhaps addressing some of these concerns will be productive to you.

Many AARs, however, are now shaking their heads, saying, “If the parents can’t support the children, they need to not be having sex in the first place, or put them up for adoption.” That’s the second step; many of you need to quit clowning around with the notion of abstinence. The main way to lessen the desire for abortions would be to lessen unwanted pregnancies, and to declare that the only solution to that is to pretend that people won’t have sex if you don’t talk about it is both ridiculous and dangerous. The surest way to prevent a child from drowning is to never let them go into water, but don’t you think it might also be a good idea to teach her to swim or buy her floaties just in case? Whether you like it or not, people are having sex, even when they probably shouldn’t. We can either ignore this, or we can address it. No doubt they should be aware that the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and disease is to not have sex, but we should also make sure they know about the reality of sex. Placing sex as a mysterious amazing thing only available to grownups is not going to make kids forget about it. Sex is a basic biological function and all people should know about it for no other reason than they deserve to know how their own bodies work. You aren’t going to make any progress with the PARs as long as your argument comes with a lot of unrealistic fantasies tacked onto it.

Finally, you need to know the difference between this “moral” debate and other debates you may be involved in. You are absolutely right that in the case of abortion one must consider the innocent life that is at stake. There is no such innocent life at stake when a gay couple wishes to be recognized legally. No one is going to die if they’re taught the scientific principle of evolution. You have every right to your beliefs in these matters but they are not in any way on the same level as the abortion debate. Simply because they are born out of religious belief does not make them equivalent, and you can’t expect any moral capital gained in one of these arguments to be applicable to the others. As long as no lives are at stake, you cannot impose your religion on others, though you are still free to believe as you like.

In conclusion then, both sides need to look at some important truths. The PARs need to quit believing that statistics about fetal viability will convince people that murder isn’t wrong. The AARs need to grow up in other sex-related areas to be taken more seriously. The AARs need to think for a moment about how important life is after the baby is born. And the PARs need to ask themselves if they’re on the right side of this issue. Both sides need to address the concerns that are entwined in this core one, and both sides need to fully understand the other side before any progress can be made. While the PARs need to understand that the AARs can not be expected to budge on the belief at the heart of their argument, the AARs need to be willing to budge on the things they can.

I don’t have any solutions here, I’m afraid. If this problem could be solved in a four-day weekend by a guy who was reading a comic book called “I Hunt Monsters” a few hours ago, it wouldn’t be a problem. But I know that the first step towards a solution is to get both sides looking at the issue honestly and chipping away at it. Obviously the best solution would be to magically have a world in which, for whatever reasons, no one ever needs or wants an abortion. I’m afraid I don’t know how to get there from here, but I know that the road we’re on doesn’t go there.

UPDATE: First off, thanks to the people who complimented me on the essay; I appreciate it. Unfortunately, in my zeal to get it from my head onto the page I omitted two crucial points. Hopefully they’re obvious enough, but just in case, I wanted to get them included here.

First, I know plenty of “pro-choice” people and zero “pro-abortion” people. PARs don’t like abortion. Obviously they feel that it should be a refuge of last resort, or employed only when no other options exist.

Second, the AARs’ opposition to abortion and attempts to outlaw it are not something that can just be waved away under the auspices of “tolerance”. Your right to be left alone to your beliefs ends when those beliefs hurt or are otherwise being imposed unwillingly on someone else. They have every right to attempt to halt what they view as systematic taking of innocent lives.

Thanks again for the kind words.

Oh man, what a work week. I’ll have to talk about that some more later. Just wanted to drop in and wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Just so the week isn’t a total no-update bust, I wanted to share some brief reviews of a bunch of comics I’ve read over the past few months.

Terra Obscura (DC) - Meh. Was like a continuation of something I’d never read, when in fact it was a continuation of something I had.

Iron Empires: Sheva’s War (DC) - Better than I remembered it was, but still an odd companion to Faith Conquers, widening Moeller’s world without deepening it.

Seaguy (DC) - Yes! This is what I think of when I think of fabulous Morrison comics! Fun, exciting, hilarious, unpredictable, and rewarding upon multiple reads. More this and less Filth please!

Love Fights (Oni) - I love Andi Watson and I loved the start of this series, but by the end I was rather let down. I felt that the whole “superheroes interacting with the mundane world” bit has been done, re-done, and overdone, and when his sweet romance angle got edged out for straight up superheroics and Yet Another Talking Cat, I wasn’t nearly as interested.

BPRD: The Soul of Venice TPB (Dark Horse) - More proof that the Hellboy-verse sans Hellboy is still just as good. And it’s always nice to see Lobster Johnson.

Hikaru no Go! vol 2 (Viz) - Hikaru’s getting deeper in the world of Go, trying to win games on his own, and developing what may be an actual interest in the game. This also manifests in Go lessons for the reader, enabling the game sessions to take on more meaning. I’d like to see a little more background on Hikaru himself, though; it seems like I know way more about Akira than the title character.

2001 Nights vol 1 (Viz) - Michael recommended this title to me and I finally got around to picking it up. As a fan of Planetes, he knew the somewhat realistic treatment of space travel would interest me, and it did. Unlike Planetes, this is a set of short stories all set in spacefaring future. There are a lot of nods towards the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey including some of the hardware designs. But the themes are consistent with those of Planetes. Hard to find but worth the search.

Human Target: Living in Amerika TPB (DC) - Good stories and better art than the first collection, but not as much exploration of identity, focusing more on straight up-storytelling. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Superman: Secret Identity (DC) - Written by Kurt Busiek and getting ton of critical praise, I really thought I’d enjoy this more, but ultimately it felt to me like Just Another Elseworlds. The what-if-a-normal-guy-got-superpowers-and-things-weren’t-as-great-as-the-comics story has been done before — by Busiek, I believe — and quite frankly, things don’t happen much differently than they do in a million other superhero comics. I appreciated the human touch, but it would be nice if it wasn’t supporting something so tired.

Same Difference and Other Stories (Top Shelf) - A collection of different pieces by Derek Kirk Kim, I got this to sample a creator I’d heard a lot about. I wasn’t disappointed. Kim has a direct, honest voice and a beautiful art style. I also liked his contribution to Image’s Flight anthology.

Mister X vol 1 (iBooks) - No mutants here! Years ago I was one of eight people who bought Dean Motter’s Terminal City miniseries from Vertigo. I really enjoyed its retro-futuristic style, and looked forward to more. A few years later, I became one of five people who bought Terminal City: Aerial Graffiti. Still enjoyable, though it felt really chopped up. A couple years later, Motter brought the show to Image in the form of Electropolis, in which I and the other two readers saw him eventually bring the whole thing back to an earlier project: Mister X. At last these early works are being reprinted, though not well. Among the German expressionist and noir stylings and art by Los Bros Hernandez, Seth, Dave McKean, etc., there are misordered pages, duplicated pages, possibly omitted pages as well. Hopefully volume 2 comes with an editor. This is really eye-popping stuff.

Runaways vol 2 (Marvel) - This is a book I discovered due to bloghype and downloading a couple sample issues. Now I’m hooked. A group of kids discover their parents are supervillains and run away. But it turns out the kids have inherited some abilities. And it also turns out one may be a traitor. Oh, and they’re teenagers, so there’s soap opera dramatics galore. A lot of fun, good characters, and engaging plots. I’m proud to make it my token Marvel purchase.

Empire TPB (DC) - I’d heard a lot about this Mark Waid project and decided to check it out. It was…okay, I guess. Honestly, without giving much away, I didn’t really see the point to it all. A weirdo plot twist around the last third that ultimately goes nowhere, a revelation towards the beginning that goes nowhere. Two “surprising” events at the end that are telegraphed from way early on…this seemed pretty pedestrian, even for Waid. I had to double-check that this was the whole thing, because it felt like it was intended to go further but was instead just abandoned. The premise, a world in which the supervillain has actually won, has potential, but little of it is explored here, especially since no time is wasted on characters who are even remotely likable. Could have been much more than the throwaway it is.

Firebirds (Image) - Another book with unrealized potential. Single mother superhero and daughter with shared powers. Home life, crimefighting life, boys, men, there’s certainly something that could be done with all this, and it’s not like the comic shelves are crawling with good books about female superheroes. But none of that is utilized with any skill, and instead we get a completely run-of-the-mill first issue superhero book. And I don’t know from art at all, but I found the art in this extremely odd and distracting, with bizarre perspectives and weird proportions.

Dungeon, vol 1: Duck Heart (NBM) - Okay, so this guy has a dungeon he charges people to come in and explore. And some bad guys are trying to muscle in. He calls for a barbarian to dispatch them, but due to an error he gets a duck instead. The duck then has to defeat the bad guys. There’s also a vegetarian lizard warrior, a giant ogress with a crush on the duck, a talking sword, and a guy in a bag. It’s great, great fun.

24 Hour Comics (About Comics) - Entries and Samples from Scott McCloud’s 24 Hour Comics Day, in which people attempt to write and draw an entire 24-page comic book in 24 hours. These books (one for 2003 and a larger one for 2004) give some really cool examples of the products of the challenge, some the silly to the sublime. It’s interesting to see how different people approach the challenge and it’s also some nifty comics to boot!

V For Vendetta (DC) - I first read this years ago and decided to re-read it. Amazing how many of these Thatcher and Reagan-era books are suddenly relevant again!

Even More Fund Comics (Sky Dog) - A $10 CBLDF donation is its own reward, but sweetening the deal with comics makes it even better. An anthology book, some of the entries are better than others. Some aren’t even complete stories, but just promos for other books. Not to worry, there’s all sorts of things here to try out, including a Wretch story! And it’s for a good cause.

In addition, this week I picked up two weeks worth, including The Losers: Double Down TPB, Walking Dead #13, Hardy Boys #1, I Hunt Monsters vol 1, Adam Strange #3, Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales #12, Terra Obscura vol 2 #4, and Powers #6.

I also grabbed the new Previews and I hope I’m the first person to point something out. On the Seven Soldiers of Victory cover, doesn’t it look like the hand, instead of holding a sword, is holding a squeegee, and wiping away a “7″-shaped clear spot so the heroes can see? It looked that way to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Work has been super busy and stupid lately, hence the lack of updates, but I’ll have a new posting soon, true believers.

Comic Book Galaxy has an article on a growing trend that should surprise nobody: comic book piracy. Anything that can be converted to a digital format — movies, music, software — can be swapped over the internet, and comic books can be scanned into computers, so they’re not immune. The article is interesting in that not only does it discuss the phenomenon, investigate it, question the morality and effects of it, and fret over it, it also pretty much serves as a how-to guide. Not like it’s that hard to figure out, but still.

So yeah, there are people scanning in comics and swapping them over the internet. Lots of comics. Not just old stuff, but brand-spanking new stuff. And I should know; I’ve downloaded a ton of them.

But what’s interesting is the article’s conclusions, that as rampant as this is, it’s not really denting comics sales. While the RIAA and MPAA howl in outrage over lost revenue, the comic book world doesn’t seem to be worried.

I think that’s for good reason. First off, unlike an mp3, there’s a very different experience between reading a comic on the computer and holding one in your hands. It’s annoying to read on a screen. It hurts your eyes. Sure there are some advantages, but there’s no way you’d go for a computer screen if the paper version were accessible. Second, I can vouch for one sentiment expressed in the article: it’s easier to download 1000 comic books than it is to read them. Most of the stuff I’ve downloaded I’ll never read. I don’t even know why I downloaded it. It was just there. What does it say for a comic book that not only will I not buy it in the store, but I won’t even read it for free?

Comic book readers, by and large, are comic book collectors. Geeks define themselves in terms of things. They’re the ones with the action figures on their desks to show their allegiances. They’re the ones who buy the same comic they already own, but with a different cover.

Let me give you an example of comic book reader mentality. Many years ago, my friend Chris and I were reading a book called “The Books of Magic”. It had long since become unpleasant for us, and we were both considering not buying it anymore, when it was announced that the writer was leaving and wrapping things up. We were discussing this unfortunate turn of events in the same room with Becky. “Well, I was gonna drop it, but now that his run is ending, I guess I’ll get it through the end,” I said. Chris agreed. Becky could not fathom this line of thinking. Sure, we weren’t enjoying it and ultimately didn’t really care how the thing ended, but dammit, we’d at least have read complete runs!

We’re hoarders. We re-buy series in trade paperback and keep the single issues boxed up. It’s no wonder that people out there download thousands of comics and read very few of them. The downloading is just another way to collect, to be able to say you’ve grabbed the entire run of a series you have absolutely no intention of reading in any form.

In addition, comic fans always bemoan the high price of books, but it’s understood what would happen if the books were to come down in price: they’d buy more of them. The same number of comics dollars would be spent, they’d just be spread further. This is why I can download a gazillion books and the next day walk into my shop and happily drop the same ridiculous amount of money as always.

I suspect that comics piracy works the same way as music piracy, in that the people doing it either wouldn’t buy the comics anyway or continue to buy large amounts anyway. Sure there’s still the ethical question of getting something for nothing: if you don’t pay for that copy of Captain America, should you be allowed to read it, even if you wouldn’t have bought it anyway? But that’s a purely philosophical question, isn’t it? After all, in that case, the company isn’t seeing any less money (since you wouldn’t have bought it anyway), and you’re not preventing them from doing so by removing a copy someone else might buy (as in the case of theft of a physical object), so ultimately it just comes down to the reader’s conscience.

Actually the part of the article that bothered me the most was this line: “Imagine reading your favorite comic on a large LCD screen or even better, via software, making the comic 3D.” That’s a great statement. It just throws the “even better” bit in with no explanation because naturally it’s obvious that 3-D comics would be better. Why wouldn’t they? They’ve got an extra D for pete’s sake! Can you imagine a comics journalist making a similar statement, such as, “Sure Cerebus is good, but just imagine if it were in color!” or, “Some day maybe a comic book will have actual voice talent by today’s hottest actors!” 3-D? What the hell?

Well, it worked once. Now it’s Iran that has the weapons of mass destruction. Maybe they do. But you know, there’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me…you can’t get fooled again. And I hate to kick a man when he’s down, but Mr. Powell, we heard this all before, and we know where that ended up.

Still, the little boy who cried WMDs is once again getting information from “dissidents” to support nail-biting claims of impending doom. Last time the source turned out to be an Iranian agent, getting us to take out Iraq for them. Could these guys Powell’s listening to now be their Sunni counterparts? This has all the makings of a wacky comedy, except for the thousands of civilians and soldiers who will die as a result.

I think my favorite part of the article is this line: “Powell partially confirmed claims by an Iranian opposition group that Tehran is deceiving the United Nations and is attempting to secretly continue activities meant to give it atomic arms by next year.” What? They are deceiving the United Nations? How DARE they! There’s nothing Colin Powell hates more than that! This administration never ceases to amaze with its hypocrisy and arrogance.

Oh but there’s other gems in the article. Like the fact that Iran supposedly got this technology from our friends in Pakistan. And how the group we’re getting this information from are considered a terrorist organization. Since we’re in a war on terror, shouldn’t this count as fraternizing with the enemy?

Of course, Iran pledged compliance, but last time a country did that, we invaded them anyway.

We all knew that Iraq was just the opening act in a gambit to put the Middle East under the American boot. Are we setting the stage for act two? I hope not, because Syria would make for a pretty anti-climactic third act.

I suppose I should call the leaf pool, since I did say in the rules that it would end either when we were “done” raking or when we got the first snow. The latter happened this weekend. It wasn’t much to speak of, maybe an inch or so, just enough to make driving unpleasant and raking impossible. It’s already started melting. No talk of further snow this week, but we still have to wait for it all to melt and everything to dry before raking begins anew. So although our job has not ended, the contest must.

Therefore I declare the winner: Dan wins with his guess of 43, one shy of the actual total. He will receive his fantastic prize as soon as I figure out what it is.

I suspect that if we get to complete more raking, the final final total will be closer to Esthela’s guess of 53, and if that’s the case, she may win a second-place, slightly less fantastic prize.

But you’re all winners in my book!

In other news, Secretary of State Colin Powell has resigned. Between Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao not stepping down and the death of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, dreams of an all-Wu Tang cabinet remain just that: dreams.

We saw The Incredibles last night and everything you’re hearing is true. Lots of fun, cool action, great superhero scenes, making nod to traditional superhero tropes and having fun with them without having to get ironic for the too-hip-for-heroes crowd. I agree with the people saying that they should just shelve the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, as it can’t possibly compare. This is what superhero movies is all about, and the best way to translate it to the screen, if it needs to be. Also, congratulations to Pixar for once again being able to do effective computer animation without feeling a need to scream HEY CHECK THIS OUT! PRETTY COOL, HUH? every ten minutes. The voice acting was spot-on (woot for Sarah Vowell!), the designs were great, it just all worked.

Speaking of CGI, I can’t tell you how much it would take to get me into The Polar Express. First, multiple Tom Hankses are not a draw for me. Second, “person learns true meaning of Christmas” is right up there with “triumph of the human spirit” and “will the aristocrat marry the right sister?” for plots I don’t need to see. (Honorable mention: “drugs/wars/Nazis are bad”). But mostly it’s the creepy CGI. It’s like a bunch of zombie robots, who don’t quite look or act human. Shudder.

Unlike many other theaters, ours was NOT showing the Star Wars Episode III trailer in front of The Incredibles. Instead we got a series of unfortunate trailers to rival the crapapalooza I got in front of Spider-Man 2 (and featuring many of the same stinkers, such as The Mask 2 and National Treasure.

I have seen said, trailer, though, and I don’t really know what to say about it. It’s a prequel trailer. It’s full of slam-bang action scenes that will more than likely be completely diluted in the actual movie. I’m not fooling anyone; I’ll be there on opening night to see it, for some reason, but I honestly can’t say that I really give a damn about Anakin, Padme, or even Yoda. The two characters these prequels should have made interesting — were obligated to, one might say — were Vader and Obi-Wan, and the former we find out was a whiny jerk before he became the Dark Lord of the Sith, and the latter was completely flat and lifeless, often with very little to do. There’s absolutely no soul in these prequels and I find myself only able to get excited about them theoretically, given what resulted out of the trailers for Episodes I and II.

There is only one movie coming up that tempts my tummy: The Life Aquatic. I’ve enjoyed Wes Anderson’s other movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tennenbaums) and I’m very much looking forward to this one. Pretty much everything else coming out this winter will have to prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s worth seeing.

It really disheartened me that Sky Captain didn’t do better than it did. A beautiful, fun, exciting movie, and it was rejected by most people for being too weird, I guess, and by geeks because they suddenly decided they wanted incredibly deep characters and absolutely bulletproof plots. The same people who are planning on seeing Constantine. I don’t get it.

Is there anything I’m overlooking here as far as possibly decent movies? I enjoyed Ocean’s 11 but don’t think there’s any reason at all for a sequel. I ♥ Huckabees seemed promising, but the reviews make it sound like its reach exceeded its grasp. Becky may be up for A Series of Unfortunate Events despite its apparent high doses of Jim Carrey, so we may go to that one. I don’t know. I guess this is what winters were like before The Lord of the Rings…