356 thoughts on “Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #123: Zmedpan

  1. Perhaps it’s a good idea to divorce the artist from the art, you can never be disappointed then when you find out the artist is a bit of a dick.

  2. I know what you mean. I have found my appreciation of certain people diminished by finding out too much of their personal life.

    Oh, and in case anyone was waiting for it … Woot-Off!

  3. Good morning, Pan. Snowy and 40 degrees colder than yesterday at my house. I’ll trek in to Evil, but it sounds like by afternoon we’ll be under a full-on blizzard. Might be an early-release day!

    w00t! w00t!

  4. Morning Deadpan.

    (From previous post) J0e – Yeah I noticed that as well. I have been to busy getting another world premiere for the next Wander Radio Episode (release This SATURDAY). Please feel free to submit anyway. (EssBee hasn’t submitted hers either.)

  5. Ahem. Sorry, Wolf. Been kinda busy with all the evil.

    Loved the episode! Great content, and welcome, Invisible (I hope I am getting this right) #! Awesome promo, Van!

    I just drove into work in heavy snow. I’m here, pretty much alone so far.

    Here’s a review of last week’s Dollhouse I found worthy of a read: http://tinyurl.com/cbdcoe

  6. I have to disagree with Tee. I’ve said it else where, but…

    It’s called a graphic novel because it is a complete story from beginning to end. It was serialized much like Dickens’ books were. It was serialized as a comic book.

    Comics is the medium.
    A comic series is an on-going series in comics.
    A graphic novel is a complete story told in a limited number of comics.

  7. I do agree with Tee about Sandman, and in particular, issue #18 “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which does appear in the “Dream Country” collection.

    What Tee didn’t mention is that the World Fantasy Awards committee changed the rules after Neil won to ensure that a comic would never qualify again. It was an amazingly spiteful move, imo.

    If you are going to read Sandman, then definitely start from the beginning. It has its rough patches, but it is #1 on my list for best “graphic novels” ever. The end ties everything together beautifully. And only Neil Gaiman could make Lucifer a likable character.

  8. There are 10 compilations that comprise the whole Sandman series. I’ll warn you that some parts can be very dark and disturbing. For instance, the serial killers convention.

  9. You know, I think it was not quite 2 years ago that TSH and I did our whole best comics geekfest here. I know that a number of the comics we talked about didn’t feature superheroes at all.

    Speaking of which, I’m mad at “Heroes” even though I haven’t watched it since early in the 3rd season. It’s just reinforcing many of the bad comics stereotypes that comic book authors have been struggling to overthrow for years.

  10. I love the dark & disturbing — you’re exciting me, ditto. Can’t wait to read Sandman now.

    Well, Evil is closing the CO office due to weather conditions, so I’ll pack it in and creep home.

  11. THAT was the scariest drive of my life. Ever see a semi jack-knife-ing from behind, coming at you, and missing you by about 3 feet? I would not recommend it.

    I’d say, based on a quick measurement of my shin, that we’ve got around 8 inches so far outside of my house. I was going to stop at the store on the way home, but was too scared. Eek!

  12. Van wrote: “Perhaps it’s a good idea to divorce the artist from the art, you can never be disappointed then when you find out the artist is a bit of a dick.”

    Yep. That’s my principle as well.

  13. Good to see you are ok Essbee.

    So I’m trying the version 2 (beta) of Chrome and dare I say it’s as smooth as butter on my netbook.

  14. w00t! Work suckage tomorrow!
    (without spinning off into innuendo city, this is a good thing)

    And yes, sorry to let my crankiness get in the way of reading your comic, Amy. Nice job :). Good choice to go with a clothed Dr. Manhattan.

  15. Essbee – I’m late as usual (so much happens around here while I’m off working) – glad to hear you avoided becoming a FARK headline. Driving in Houston, close calls are standard fare on the commute, but I’ve yet avoided the runaway jack knife so far.

  16. On the computer I use at work, Norton has identified this comments page as a fraudulent website, and has blocked it. It hasn’t blocked all of jackmangan.com, just this particular comments page. I wonder why. My use of a Snurl address, maybe?

    Imaginary Number: Welcome to the Deadpan! Good job on your first contribution. 🙂

    Cj, Jack: Thank you for the compliments on my comic! 😀

  17. Oh, and for those not in the local area – we are enjoying a noisy night of windy mayhem outside. My lights are flickering and well… I did have the candles ready, but I won’t be needing them now as I’m off to dreamland.

    Night, Pan.

  18. Morning, Deadpan!

    No wind or quiet beaches here, but the snow sure is pretty. I won’t be driving in to work today until the streets clear – maybe mid-day. I’ll just sit here and telecommute evil for the morning.

    Coffee, stat!

  19. I like ST dark, DS9 was so much better when it moved from the goody two shoes straightjacket.

    As ACC once wrote, the newspapers in an Utopia would be very boring.

  20. Good points made about the new Trek, ditto. I hadn’t considered that point about a generation-spanning franchise vs. a fun, popcorn movie trilogy.
    I think that’s been the case with the Spider-Man movies. Like Star Trek, that franchise has had a huge impact on countless fans’ lives since the 60s. The Spider-Man movies have been a mixed bag of box office and entertainment value – – but they aren’t quite as important(?) as the 40-year old franchise that made them.
    Abram’s Trek movie might be fun – but will it be something that resonates deeply and changes the lives of its hardcore audience? By itself, will its make countless geeks want to become fluent in a fictional alien language, as its source franchise did?
    I guess we’ll see.

  21. I, for one, have already obtained a babysitter for the midnight showing of Trek. Of course, all locals or anyone who wants to travel into town are welcome to join us. LLAP will represent.

    We are absolutely looking forward to the movie, but as a Trek fan, my biggest hope is that they do keep the campiness that makes Trek so Treklike to begin with. I hope they don’t go so drama and serious or add Terminator 3 type action (really was there any dialogue script for T3? I think not) to the extent that it doesn’t attempt to send a corny message about humanity. I hope that there are enough asides in the movie for long-time Trek fans and I hope that maybe those who’ve never seen it won’t notice them or will want to understand them enough to go back and start watching one of the greatest TV shows of all time.

    Squeeeee! I’m way too excited about this movie – srsly.

  22. It is a valid concern. Though, really, the last few movies were hardly worthy of the franchise and really put the nail in “old Trek”. Nemesis should have been so much better (how can you screw up remaking Star Trek 2 for the love of God????).

    I do put a lot of the blame on Paramount simply loosing sight of what made Trek special and just milking it for a cash cow.

    We can really only go up from here.

  23. Let me just say that I am looking forward to the new Trek and I will definitely see it. I’m just conflicted. Silly me, over-analyzing things again. 🙂

  24. I’m not a Trek person, and I’m looking forward to it!

    I’m also looking forward to Dollhouse tonight. Thank goodness for Dollhouse, otherwise, I’d have BSG DTs.

  25. EssBee: When you’re viewing either your photo album or the individual photos, scroll to the very bottom of the page. There should be a public link that you can use to share those pictures with the whole world, including those not on Facebook.

  26. So your celebrity quote for the day, in an interview about War Inc, John Cusack says about Grosse Point Blank:

    ‘Yeah that one was good.’

  27. A thought on the Watchman movie.

    I think the graphic violence was unnecessarily limiting. In fight scenes, I don’t think that close up shots of arms being broken and the bones jutting out through the skin added anything to the movie. I think those shots could have been left out and no one would have been the wiser.

    Here’s the thing – If you take a random sampling of 100 people from the “action adventure”, movie going public and described that scene to them I suspect you might have one or two people who would go see the film because of those kind of scenes.
    However, I’d be willing to bet that you might have 20 who would specifically avoid it
    because of those kind of scenes.

    Sometimes that level of carnage is needed. To relate the carnage of war in “Saving Pvt Ryan” for instance. However, in a fight between Costume adventurers and thugs, I don’t know what it added.

    *steps down off the Deadpan soapbox*

  28. J0e – I agree with you, which isn’t surprising considering my abhorrence to bloodshed and violence, but I think the idea was to shock the audience. During our experience, a women walked out directly after the Rorschach took the hatchet to the child-murderer’s head. She was clearly disturbed and very vocal about it as she was leaving.

    The violence, for me, was expected and like I’ve said before, I knew when to cover my eyes. I suppose it could have worked either way, but the book was pretty graphic, so I think the movie-makers wanted to give the film the same feel.

    I think I’ve mentioned this before, but with movies like Kill Bill and 300 being so popular in our culture now, it seems like movie-watchers are becoming more and more desensitized to the violence. I don’t, personally, think that’s a good thing.

  29. Re: Antler Dance
    You’d need the way back machine to catch SNL from back in the late 70’s when it was called Saturday Night Live and it was considered controversial … and funny.

  30. Re: Dollhouse
    I now officially like it.

    I am amused that all of FOX’s spots for it feature the scantly clad, writhing, Eliza Dushku and yet she’s featured maybe only half the show … and what percentage of “main focus of the scene” time she DOES get, she is mostly NOT scantly clad and NOT being a “sex kitten”.

    I keep imagining 14 year old boys being sucked in by the promos … and then being very disappointed by the content. 😀

    Bad FOX. Naughty FOX. Sit. stay.

  31. The world of youth is a mysterious one that seems alien to the people over 30.

    Maybe Amy can elucidate on the attractions of Twilight.

  32. So just got back from seeing ‘Monsters vs Aliens’ in 3D.

    Was fun, but the Jonas brothers preview was a major ugh!

    Now know what South Park was taking the piss out of.

  33. “That lesbian chick?” Hmm. Bella didn’t seem that way in the book, at least, not to me. She must be very different in the movie. (No, I haven’t seen the movie.)

    Here’s why I think so many teenage girls are crazy over Twilight. If you are a teenage girl, you can vicariously have this wish fulfilled through Bella (the female lead character): to find and be found by a really hot guy who wants to protect you, is just as attracted to you as you are to him, and who has tragic events in his past which you can comfort him about. I understand that, later in the series, there is further drama when the possibility of Bella choosing between the aforementioned really hot guy, Edward, and another guy named Jacob. I’ve only read the first book, though, so this is all I have to say about it.

    I feel like I’m returning a favor here: You guys elucidated the Cold-War-era consuming dread of nuclear annihilation, something I didn’t understand, for me, and now I get to elucidate the attractions of “Twilight” for you. I only wish I had read the rest of the series before now, so I could explain it better.

  34. Bring on the apocalypse! LOL

    Late to the party. Agreeing with JOe about unnecessary violence in movies. Agree with Ed about Dollhouse, it’s a keeper. I stilled laughed about “Eliza Dushku ” riding a superbike in a mini and lacy leggings.

  35. Good points, Amy! Most teenage girls probably swoon over an Edward!

    The “lesbian chick” comment was mostly snark. It has no evidence in the story. The actress is a cutie.

    Rhettro, we had a guffaw laugh at the lacy leggings. Who wears those?!

  36. To quote the Defcon tagline:

    Everybody dies!

    Oh and for non FB users, fav line from a song I heard today:

    I’m built for comfort, I ain’t built for speed.

  37. Stolen paragraph:

    Nicodemus studied me for a moment before smiling. “Apocalypse is a frame of mind,” he said then. “A belief. A surrender to inevitability. It is despair for the future. It is the death of hope.”

    From – Death Masks, Book Five of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

  38. It continues to amaze me how many companies don’t want me to spend my money on them.

    I picked up the 16 CD unabridged auidiobook of one of the last two books of the Dune series. My intent was to put it on my Ipod so I could listen to it in the car and while working out. I find it difficult to make the time to physically read books anymore.

    It’s taking about six hours to read each disc. From what I’ve been able to determine, the companies are deliberately coding the discs in such a way that simple audio CD players will work, but computer based ones will choke. Even trying to just play the CD in Itunes directly caused it to hiccup uncontrolably.

    Since the audio system in my car is essentially a computer as well, I’m betting the discs will fail there as well.

    So, I’m letting the computer chew on them for as long as it takes. But I’ll never buy another audiobook CD again.

  39. only 1 more day of March Madness.. I can’t wait to have my husband back!!

    Since Illinois got out early on, we are taking Michigan State being our closest neighbors.

    I can’t believe I just said we.. Hugh has sucked me into this march madness shit

    heh.. I just said Hugh sucked me 🙂

    LOL

  40. just reading through casually, I saw dittos comments on something Tee said about The Sandman

    I would like the 2nd dittos comments- everyone that has Sandman but hasn’t read it yet should read it, but yes there are some definite disturbing moments. Issue 6 for example, right when the series started made many readers stop reading it.

    He also mentioned Cages.. one of the most beautiful and most treasured comics in my collection.

    I will refrain from swooning over Dave McKean again here.. but the guy is a genius. See for yourself

    http://www.davemckean.com/

  41. I don’t doubt that at all.
    Have to run for a bit. Be back in about 30 minutes.

    Hope you & Huge doing well even if he’s paying more attention to basketball than you. Silly man. 😉

  42. J0e, Rhettro, Cj: I agree, I found some of the violence in the “Watchmen” movie to be unnecessarily gory and detailed. Why couldn’t the scene with Big Figure and his goons trying to get to Rorschach just have been left the way it was in the comic? It was already violent enough.

    Hi, TSH! 🙂

  43. ditto, I am going to tell Hugh you said that 🙂
    I just don’t like sharing him with basketball.

    Hi Jackamo!!! *mmmmwa!!!!*

    Ed and Van- since you say Dollhouse is good we will check it out.

    Hi Amy!

    Hope everyone is doing goodly

    and I 2nd the Jack swoon

    *Jack Mangan swooon2*

  44. There’d better be a full report on some Farpoint Media show this week….

    Enjoy your trip, Essbee. Be sure to bring us souvenirs 🙂

  45. Thank You EssBee.
    I had the opportunity to meet the band yesterday at their CD release party…
    If you like traditional Celtic Music Queen’s Gambit does it really well.

    They also have a sense of humor. Last year they did a cover of “Code Monkey”. Really they did…I am trying to find a copy of that.

    On the latest CD – they did a version of 7 Bridges. The harmonies are just excellent….

    Damn I went fanboi…

  46. Amy – Yep! Jack came over and was on LLAP along with Debbie. I’m listening to the pre-edited show right now and making up show notes. Hopefully, it will be online before the end of today.

  47. Oh… I’m giggling because our evening was a festival of giggling. We are full of silly. I don’t want to give away too much though. 😉

    “That’s what she said.”

  48. Good Afternoon Pan!

    Back from sunny Mexico. We flew back on Saturday into a snow storm and woke up to 8″ of snow the next morning. I think I want to go back to the warm beach.

  49. When you have access to food, non-stop from 5:30 am to 11:00 pm you gain 8 pounds (will be working hard to remove that one 🙂 )

  50. I just finished listening to the pre-edited LLAP and there’s plenty of Jack giggles. There’s even a moment where he refers to me by my real first name. I wasn’t in the room at the time so I didn’t know it was there until I heard it just now. I actually had to collect myself from that majorly swooooonworthy moment right there. 😳

  51. Cj walk over to the nearest coach and lie down… You will be alright. Just take your time and relax and build the strength back up in your legs. It will come in time. When you feel strong enough get off the coach and carry on with your day, but take it easy…that was a shock to the system.

  52. (Leaving angry moment)

    Van, we watched that last night. Weird and funny.

    (Back to angry moment where I attempt to not throw my telephone across the room)

  53. Amy- we have read Watchman. I have the individual comics sealed away and the GN for when I want to read it 🙂

    One day we should listen to CJ’s podcast.. one day.. after we catch up in Deadpan 🙂

    Hugh sez: We are hoping to see a return to the play by play this weekend

    Hopefully 🙂 We’re trying. Life is crazy.

    Hugh sez: you can say that again

    Hopefull 🙂 We’re trying. Life is crazy.

    Hugh sez: smart ass

    🙂 My ass is super smart

  54. ok, back to comic book ordering

    sorry for my excessive Dave McKean swoonage

    Hugh sez: I’m so jealous

    🙂 you have basketball, I have Dave McKean

    Hugh sez: and Greg Dulli, and Skinny Puppy, and that contact lens model

    and you have football, and hockey

    Hugh sez: FINE! We’re even woman!

  55. [comics tangent] I am so sick of DC comics and their 52/Countdown/Final Crisis mumbo-jumbo. Batman RIP was bad enough. The best comic books aren’t coming out of DC and Marvel anymore.. well Vertigo still has some winners [/comics tangent]

  56. My crisis has been temporarily averted. My phone is still in tact.

    I want to read more. Where can I purchase a large amount of free time in which to do this reading? Anyone have any to spare?

  57. Well I’ll just do some of both

    A small selection of the best comics of old:

    1. The Sandman Ver2 (when Neil Gaiman wrote it)
    2. Hellblazer
    3. Maus
    4. From Hell
    5. Batman Legends of The Dark Knight
    6. Cages
    7. Doom Patrol Ver 3 I think (when Grant Morrison wrote it)
    8. Grendel
    9. I Am Legend
    10. Hellraiser

  58. Cj: Awesome! I love it when podcasters and their shows are full of silly. 🙂

    Wolf: I have to vote for snow in my suit… snow melts, sand does not.

    TSH: Thanks for sharing your expertise! 🙂

  59. ok, comics for May have been ordered. We got:

    Cages
    Neil Gaiman presents: Voltan
    Batman Battle for the Cowl
    Batman confidential
    Unwritten
    Fables
    Jack of Fables
    Literals
    Hellblazer
    Northlander
    House of Mystery
    Olympus
    Four Eyes
    Proof
    sword
    Anita Blake Necromancer
    Echo
    Complete Dracula
    Jim Butchers Dresden Files
    Dr Who
    Juxtapoz Magazine

    and with that, we’re off

    bye pan

    hugh sez: bye pan

  60. RE: Purchasing spare time.
    Stay away from cheap “knock-off” time. Oh, it seems like a bargain but it tends to fall apart quickly … and that “Made in China” spare time? Well, an hour later, you’ll just be wanting more.

  61. Interesting. Though I suppose one could simply take aspirin, folic acid, …

    Re-reading the paragraph again and now I’m confused.

    “The polypill used in the latest study combines five active pharmacological ingredients widely available separately – aspirin, a statin to lower cholesterol and three blood pressure-lowering drugs – as well as folic acid.”

    Does that mean the polypill is 5 pills in one or is it aspirin, a statin, 3 BP drugs, and folic acid? Because that would be 6 ingredients. Or is folic acid not an active ingredient?

    I was going to say that I didn’t see the point in making a magic pill when I could merely take the individual pills, but if we are talking the difference between one pill and twenty-four (randomly chosen number) pills then I’ll take the magic one.

  62. Well, the hotel has been booked. Barring any unforeseen events, I will definitely be in Arizona on the September long weekend.

    While I know it’s a long way off and reminders will have to be made, Jack, CJ (and hubby Dan), Rhettro and any others in that area, if you’re not at DragonCon that weekend, it would be cool if we could get together for dinner or something.

  63. TEB – No Dragon Con for us. We’ll be here! I look forward to seeing you.

    I’m at month end as well. My butt will be numb by tomorrow night for sure having to sit here with my friendly neighborhood spreadsheets for hours.

  64. Ok, CJ. I have issues with your knowledge of actors. Last week you didn’t know who Karl Urban is, now you don’t know who Simon Pegg is.

    tsk, tsk, tsk.

  65. CJ: Do you have the knitpickers guides for both original and Next Gen ST? Hubby and I like to pull them out and look at them before watching. It’s fun to find the errors.

  66. Yeah – I have a horrible memory. Half the time I do know the person and I’ve just completely forgotten. Now that they are in Star Trek they’ll be more important to me 😉

  67. So on the rare occasions I go downtown, I share an office with another guy. Yesterday, while I was there, he was given notice. Doesn’t affect me as we are in different departments (and accountants are usually the last to be let go anyway) but it still sucks.

    He says he’s not too worried. He’s 58, been with the company about 30 years, and apparently he got a really nice package (insert dirty joke here), so now he’s thinking retirement (if he doesn’t go stir crazy from sitting around)

    What it does mean is, sometime in the near future, they will be moving my downtown office. It doesn’t make sense to rent a downtown office for just one person. Chances are I’ll be move to one of the other office they have with other people. Not that it matters, I’ll still work from home most days 🙂

  68. So, I’m just at the test on LLAP. Do you know it skips right at the result. I think you said yes, in which case, congrats. (If I’m wrong, I blame your recording).

    Now to listen to the rest.

  69. Yesterday as I was making lunch, the back half of one of my front teeth fell off.
    I take really good care of my teeth (I thought) so … shock horror fear.

    Just now back from the dentist. Tooth is repaired and thankfully the only pain is where they stuck the Novocain needly (“this will pinch a bit”) into my lower gum.

    I hate it when that happens. Any of it.

  70. J0e, I think genetics have a lot to do with teeth. I look after my teeth quite well as well (including flossing etc.). I see the dentist every six months and the rest of my family is sporadic. I don’t eat a lot of sweets (I’m more of a fruit and veggie person) I’ve still had two root canals in the last 10 years, and usually have a cavity once a year.

  71. I suspect it”s more down to having bigger gaps.

    After losing two adult teeth in the back of my mouth, I haven’t had a cavity in 20 years. The dentist mentioned that I have enough gaps that food doesn’t get stuck in places the toothbrush can’t reach.

    It may all be bollox of course and I may now have jinxed myself to false teeth in my near future.

  72. I had a really weird dream last night. It was like I was watching the new Star T…

    Y’know I think I’ll do this as a VM to LLAP

  73. I didn’t hear anything filthy – and yes, I did feel bad about not remembering the title of “Night on Earth” since I do actually own it.

    on VHS…………… 😛

  74. “VHS…” hmmm, VHS. VHS…

    Nope, comin’ up blank on that one.

    Okay, kidding. Up until last October I was making copies of VHS on a weekly basis. Then the optical stuff and me were purchased and the videotape was all left behind.

  75. We had a decrepit betamax player in the old place. About one in three tapes worked in it, it was that old. A toploader too.

    We also had tons of Betacam decks (and BetacamSP, and Digital Betacam), which is the pro tape you are thinking of, Van. The first Betacam stuff was based on the same transports and basic tapestock as the consumer Betamax, but was not in fact cross-compatible.

  76. Have I gone on and on yet about “Slings and Arrows” here?

    Wow, I hate to see the Canadians hid this gem from me for so long. Three seasons of six episodes each and boy do they pack a lot in.

    The best part is they had a plan starting out, so the series did not hang out for five seasons, limping along and having contrived plots between what they wanted to actually say. They wrote it with a mind to having exactly the three seasons.

  77. 😆
    I’m kinda proud to have had such an effect although, sadly, I don’t actually like bacon all that much myself and I think it might be an April Fool’s ad.

  78. Relatively so, wet and sloppy is hardly the apocalypse.

    I drive on a bridge over the Mississippi at least twice daily and it looks pretty darn high, but it would need to be actually apocalyptic to reach my house a mile away. (and of significant elevation above.

  79. Wow. “Night on Earth”. Hadn’t thought about that one in a while. I recall being marginally amused by some scenes. I wonder if the passage of time may have changed my perception of it.

    Palooza material?
    Deadpan on Earthapolooza ?

  80. Loving the dream conversation. 🙂

    TEB: Awesome! I’ll be out that way (well, back in SoCal) by then. I’d love to come, but I don’t know whether I’ll be working, or whether I’ll have transportation.

    I had to submit quarterly reports today. There was much stressing and worrying, but I got them all in before 5:00. I realized too late that I never looked to see if any of my new students had beginning scores on the standard English test on record. I’ll have to report that next quarter. 🙁

  81. Actually – I’d have to admit that my dreams are much too pleasant and sharing them anywhere on a public forum would only get me in trouble …

  82. Okay, time for me to turn off the computer.

    Tomorrow morning, my team and I leave for a three-day retreat in Key Largo. I will probably have no Internet access while I’m there, so I’ll talk to you when I get back. 🙂

  83. Prizes acquired at the going-out-of-business sale at the downtown Denver Virgin Megastore:

    -The Best of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds $7
    -Tegan And Sara – If It Was You $5
    -15 Huapangos do Oro Miguel Aceves Mejia – $4!!!

  84. EssBee – Re: Going out of business
    Well duh! There’s a business plan that wasn’t thought through.
    Like they were going to find enough virgins to fill a mega store. Geesh!

  85. I used to work for Virgin when I lived in So. Cal. I worked for the gaming division in tech support.

    Yes… I was an employee of … … … Virgin Games, Interactive Entertainment

    Gotta love that name eh…

    “Virgin Tech Support, this is Cj. How may I help you?”

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