Dreaded Purple Master

This year's "whiny college graduate unprepared for the job market" letter to the editor is in the Buffalo News.

Upon graduating, I was helplessly launched headfirst into the “real world,” equipped with a degree in history and $32,000 in student loans. Before ricocheting back home, I would learn two important lessons: 1) There are no well-paying — let alone paying — jobs for history majors. 2) The real world is really tough.

(That should be "there are no paying — let alone well-paying — jobs for history majors". That's how the "this, let alone that" structure is used: The first example is general, the second more specific. Otherwise it makes no sense. But then you're a history major, not a language major, aren't you?)

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I had no intention of living in a society that was as unfair as this one. To seek a haven devoid of the ruthless 9-to-5 ebb and flow of contemporary America, I moved to Alaska.

As a liberal arts major, I dreamed of making a profound difference in people’s lives.

Doing what, exactly? What kind of life would you judge your history degree has prepared you for? What did you have in mind?

Instead, for a year, I lived in Coldfoot, a town north of the Arctic Circle that resembles a Soviet Gulag camp. My job as a tour guide for visitors...

This "Soviet Gulag camp" of a town has a tourism industry? Why, yes it does. It isn't the bustling metropolis Cicely is, but it has its charms -- apparently lost on Ken, here.

I've read this letter five or six times now, and it keeps getting funnier every time I read it. I just wish the paper had done a sidebar interview with his parents.

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See also:

• Life Lessons (Shawna Gale, the grad from Yale)
• Does this mean I come with course credit?

...the "One More Day" arc featuring the Amazing Spider-Man was published, as originally scheduled, in weekly installments throughout the month of August 2007.

On that same earth, Allan Heinberg's "Who is Wonder Woman" and Kurt Busiek's "Camelot Falls" similarly achieved unbroken regular serialization.

On the other hand, Newsweek will have skipped its third week in a row, Time has missed more weeks than it has hit in 2007, and People and Us are in the midst of a month-long crossover. They sell in the tens of thousands, and they are only available at small shops called "news-stands". But I digress.

Unfortunately, I don't live on that earth. I have to buy comics on this one, where Marvel disguises a $1 price hike by hiding it in plain sight, in a "Still 395 cents" bullet-burst. Where the Marvel hype machine, with tongue in cheek, insists that "if you only read one comic this decade," it should be part two of a four-issue arc.

Where Joe Quesada can allow the flagship title of the Marvel Comics Group to drift so far off-schedule that these four "weekly" August issues are now "monthly" issues, barely expected to conclude the arc before the end of the year.

Assuming no additional delays.

I wonder how this story, on its completion (assuming it ever is completed, and with Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine on a year-plus delay, surely it is permissible to question it), will compare to the Spider-Man epic by Lee and Ditko that concluded in Spider-Man #33.

That only cost twelve cents.

That only took one issue to tell.

That was published on schedule.

That didn't bring in a deus-ex-machina new character, or have Peter threaten to sell his soul, to tie everything together neatly.

That also saw Spider-Man facing a lethal threat to both himself and Aunt May, one that was clearly far beyond his ability to overcome, yet overcome it he did, when all else failed him, with raw determination.

Boy, I tell you, they don't make comics like that anymore.

Except, maybe, on that parallel earth.

Today's entry is the classic cliffhanger from Fantastic Four #512, by the sorely missed Mark Wieringo.

What's worse, that Johnny Storm has managed to lose his pants, or that he's screaming about it at the top of his lungs while sitting in the kiddie pool?

AP | J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character
Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.

Tristan and Isolde. Merlin and Nimue. Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

Doesn't quite have the same mythic je ne se quoi, does it?

C'mon. Despite its phenomenal popularity, the Potter series is a children's book. Authority figures in children's books are almost completely sexless. The tragedy of the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald works without introducing the "romance that was not meant to be" motif into it.

Argh. Every minute I spend thinking about this yields another wrongness.

"I'm Dumbledore's man."

"Is it love again?" said Voldemort, his snake's face jeering. "Dumbledore's favorite solution, love..."

"Severus Snape wasn't yours," said Harry. "Snape was Dumbledore's..."

Headmaster. AAARGGGHH!

Conner "the Clone of Steel" Kent and Cassie "Wonder Girl" Sandsmark play "what if this were the end of the world" in the barn in Teen Titans Annual #1. Of course, this being an "Infinite Crisis" tie-in, it doesn't end well, as after a good farm-cooked breakfast, Conner flies off to be killed by the villain now known simply as "Prime".

But at least he died... a Man. I guess.

Has it struck anyone else as odd that the colorful star-spangled early-Silver Age Wonder Woman is being reprinted in the black-and-white Showcase format, where the Sekowsky-era "powerless" Diana Prince (best remembered in her signature white jumpsuit) gets a full color trade?

On the other hand, I just bought Showcase Presents Adam Strange because I'd given up on DC ever bringing out Adam Strange Archives Vol 3, and guess what they just solicited for March?

Yike! My defibrillator is being recalled!

Don't jog during thunderstorms!

Hypothesis: The little picture of a gas pump next to your car's fuel indicator tells you which side of your car the gas tank is on. Can this possibly be true?

CNN Money: Over half of the $8 billion the IRS expected to pay out in phone tax refunds remains unclaimed.

Freakonomics: If the personal computer were being put on the market for the first time now, what would they call it?

Argh Ink: The secret to writing romance is understanding the Glittery HooHa.

CNN: Bonnie Raitt answers your questions about nuclear power.

Wise Bread: Cracking the infamous McDonald's Monopoly Game.

Baltimore Sun: Believe your noodly master, Hon.

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Special section: Education

For class of S.F. high school juniors, WWII details are elusive

School District Halts Shakespeare Production: Official Cites 'Inappropriate' Content

A crossword puzzle assigned as a homework lesson for fifth-graders studying a book about the 19th-century South asked them to use a racial slur _ the N-word _ as an answer.

College students having sex -- well, a little

Orestad Gymnasium, Denmark

What would you do if you found your child's elementary school teacher topless on MySpace? Knoxville News Sentinel; WATE; TransWorldNews; Web Site Traffic Marketing (if you want to see the pictures in question; they're much more modest than you might imagine). As of Monday, she's been cleared to return to class, since an investigation has so far been unable to show she did anything wrong. (She may not have posted the photos herself.)

To initiate this feature, I chose the DC universe's favorite strumpet, Kara Zor-El, showing off her considerable underage charms to a Kandorian tattoo artist. From Supergirl #6.

In all seriousness, though, I do have two questions about this. Not "What were they thinking?" since I think we've established that they weren't thinking.

One: Does she still have it, or were the events of "Candor" retconned away in a flurry of alternate earths and timelines?

Two: Can someone with a better grasp of Kryptonian tell me what it said?

Thanks.

This week we are pleased to begin a five part presentation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, adapted for audio by Thomas E. Fuller and Gregory Nicholl. It features the voice of legendary writer Harlan Ellison, as well as anime voice actor Michael Brady.

This was performed live at Dragon*Con 2004.

There is Adventure in Sound!
Size: 8M Duration: 16:54

Hey, everybody, just a quick announcement to let you know that your favorite radio theatre group is staying busy and out of trouble. Well, one out of two isn't bad.

Our next two shows will be PUBLIC performances at the Stage Door Players in Dunwoody. Full details on all shows at WWW.ARTC.ORG

First up we bring you our traditional Halloween offering. This year we will feature H. P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls" adapted for audio by Brad Strickland. It's a horror masterpiece we haven't had the courage to bring you since 1990!

This performance will be on Saturday, October 27 at 8:00pm. ONE SHOW ONLY! Tickets available by calling 770-396-1726. Reservations are strongly recommended, but if you dare to wait until the night of the show you can try to get tickets at the door. Admission: $10

Next we'll be bringing you our holiday favorite, "An Atlanta Christmas" by Thomas E. Fuller, along with other holiday-inspired audio goodness. Details are still being formed, but the shows will be on December 22 at 8:00pm and December 23 at 2:30pm, again at the Stage Door Players.

Don't forget our podcast! FREE downloadable mp3s of our live performances, so if you missed that live performance, check the podcast and see if we've chosen it. We've just concluded a three part installment of Terry Pratchett's "Guards! Guards!" and a three part installment of Robert A. Heinlein's "Solution Unsatisfactory" and this week we will begin a five-part installment of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". This podcast is available at PODCAST.ARTC.ORG.

Also, please remember that ARTC is supported ENTIRELY by people like you through the sale of our studio productions. These are available on CD by mail order through WWW.ARTC.ORG or by download from WWW.AUDIBLE.COM. Look for us soon on iTunes!

There is Adventure in Sound!

--
David Benedict
Atlanta Radio Theatre Company
listen@artc.

The third year for this swimsuit calendar featuring young women from UW-Eau Claire, and all I can find is complaints. WEAU and The Spectator (twice) both tut-tutting inappropriateness and objectification. Here's their Facebook page, and the calendar's 'Official' website.

A group of naturists have collected snaps from their personal photo albums to form an unofficial 2008 calendar to raise money for the Wroughton-based organisation. Mike Gould features on the majority of the pages in the calendar, including posing in the snow as Mr December, and is responsible for rallying his naturist friends together for a good cause.

Press coverage at the Swindon Advertiser.

Thanks, Ron, for reminding me of this landmark.

New York Times: It's difficult to recapture the sense of paranoia and self-doubt that Sputnik created in the U.S., but the New York Times' coverage of that week helps a bit.

Ron adds:

The ‘New York Times’: Spreading paranoia and self-doubt for fifty years! :) (At least.)

And counting.

New York Times: After all, the first step into space was an achievement that transcended politics.

Bwah hah hah, I say, and furthermore, chortle. Ron observes:

Tell that ‘un to Wernher von Braun. He probably could have put ‘Explorer 1’ up a coupla months before ‘Sputnik,’ except that Dwight Eisenhower insisted America’s first satellite go up on a ‘civilian’ booster.

Here is the All Oli Calendar for 2008. Oli and JC from Musclehead Graphics produced this calendar to benefit breast cancer research and all profits from its sale will be donated. In addition, $1 will be contributed for each of the first 1000 sold. So, here's an opportunity to enjoy 12 months of one of the hottest men in the Midwest and contribute to a good cause at the same time.

Buy it at Lulu. Also found on eBay.

To continue with the Autumnal metaphor it should be pointed out that for our 2008 Calendar there was a lot more than leaves dropping in Chester Vermont ! Whilst our ladies are “technically” nude we’re sure you’ll agree that the images are tasteful, aesthetically pleasing and will bring a chuckle to those who can appreciate the giddy terror we were happy to endure to do something positive for the town we all call home.

I like that description, "Giddy terror". Buy it at Chester Calendar. Press coverage at the Rutland Herald.

Has Faust been... eating Ralph Dibny?

(Does he taste rubbery?)

I haven't been following Black Adam, so I had no idea poor Ralph put in an appearance (sort-of) until Rachelle mentioned it over at Living Between Wednesdays. Neron apparently found a loophole in Ralph's dying binding spell (see 52), but Felix Faust is stuck in Doctor Fate's tower until he dies, or unless a God lets him out. (I wonder if Granny Goodness could do it.)

I suppose nobody knows Ralph is dead but Faust, Neron, and Adam. And who would they tell? The situation is likely to stay that way until a sufficiently high-level magic user tries to find him. You'd think someone would miss him.

If I was a betting man, I'd look for Ralph (and Sue) wherever Doctor Thirteen next appears. Of course, being a skeptic, he wouldn't be able to see them -- but I'll bet Tracy Thirteen could.

Maybe Ralph and Sue could partner with Boston Brand and open a detective agency in the Oblivion Bar.

Owing to the tremendous success of the 2007 calendar, the ladies and their Staffies are back with a new 2008 calendar, once again featuring the legendary Squibs Mercier!

Stripped of their rights by the Ontario government, ladies of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Canada and supportive Staffie ladies in the US and South Africa decided to “bare all” once again to increase awareness for their plight while also raising funds for legal defense. These ladies have posed beautifully with nothing but their beloved Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

I have to wonder what the dogs thought was going on...