Yesterday's toy shelf theme was: Villains who have succeeded in that most elusive of achievements, the actual killing of a hero.

Sure, several of the heroes came back, but that's what they do.

Feel free to name all the characters you can (no cheating by looking at the Flickr notes) and the people you think they killed.

In tomorrow's entry my brother Nathan is going to astonish you.

Trust me.

b

The biggest culprits of these shows seem to Law dramas.

I don't even mean episodes of Law & Order, SVU or Criminal Intent where "We the Jury Find the Defendant.." Fade to black, credits... those are acceptable. Especially in episodes where an on the show causes an actual judgement call on a difficult case where the episode has been written in a way of really showing how complicated Law & Order is.

I'm talking where the show ends in the middle of a dramatic moment, with pretty much no clue to what the follow-up would be and that that follow-up matters, but by the next episode, it's like it never happened. Episodes where Stabler would show up at his wife's place and say "I'm ready to come home" and fade to black without an answer from the wife...and then three episodes later he's back sleeping in the squad room... with no explanation.

or when Grissom finds the sister of a victim attacking the proved killer by forensics (but not by Law) and tells her to stop and she cries and they hug out in a field in the middle of nowhere, while the "bad guy" is tied to a car, bleeding out...

What the hell? I mean that's probably how it was scripted, but that's bad writing...isn't it? Then for such bad writing to get past a script supervisor, the producers, the episode's directors, the actors and then a television exec before it hits the air? I don't understand how any of that happens...

but then again, who can explain really bad films making millions of dollars?

I've been a fan of Joey Weiser's (aka joeyweiser) work for a long time, from his online showing, many mini comics, and his first graphic novel, "The Long Way Home" . He just completed his latest book and has come up with an awesome fund way to help get it published. All the information is on his website, it has the feeling of one of those PBS type donation funds, where for incremental donations you get special gifts of varying size or worth. Joey's offering are primo though, so to those of you who have extra funds in this crazy economic climate, check it.

Also just check out Joey's work period. He's funny and his work is magical, cartoony and full of dynamic simplicity (yes, that makes NO SENSE)...

The last page of Chapter One went up today, so now is the perfect time to get caught up before diving into Chapter Two, which will begin on Thursday!



We've had a great bump in the contributions to the Freewheel: Volume One Fundraising Campout! The project is currently about 30% funded so we've got $1744 left to raise before the end of February! I think I can, I think I can, I'm the god damn little engine that could! So far we've got a bunch of Can Openers, Cans O' Beanz, two loads of Firewood, some Matches and a Bootlegger to bring the party! Still no Mayor of Hobotown though!

You should also check out Joey Weiser's fundraiser for his Cavemen in Space project! He's trying to raise the funds to self-publish it and he could use some help from you!

Here's that fun ol' fundraising thermometer so you can get a better visual as to where I am right now with the Campout:

At least that's the way it looks...

Ric Flair, Sean "Val Venis" Morley, Shannon Moore, Orlando Jordan, The Nasty Boys.

If this is where we're headed, still to come: Ken "Kennedy" Anderson, Rikishi Fatu, Vampire Warrior, Black Pearl, Nick "U-Gene" Dinsmore, The Godfather, Paul London, Heidenreich, Matt "M-Dogg" Cross, still to come...

Whoopie!!!!!!!!!

Casey Johnson, the daughter of Woody Johnson (owner of the Jets) and heiress to the Johnson and Johnson crown. Most recentely she'd been in a lot of trouble and also was publicly engaged to famous for no reason but being hot, Tila Tequila.

As seems to be the case these days... TMZ was the first to carry the story.

Bobby Lashley's wife in ring telling people Bobby demands his release.

Mick Foley is not being allowed in the building and is banned, so why even how him on TV? (obviously because it's an angle, but the logics are horrible)

same goes for Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. If they're being denied access to the Impact Zone back stage, why would a camera even be on them on the live broadcast and then have Moke Tenay follow it up with "they weren't invited". Logics... seriously man... logics.

It's my one bone of contention. Things can be mind numbling idiotic. Fire out of turnbuckles, characters coming from out of video games, a waste of time poker game between hot women... it's all okay, if its logical!

But hey at least Hall and Waltman got in the building. The idea of them crashing "the party" instead of just being there is just stupid.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair is now TNA! It really is on! CRAZY!

Jeff Hardy the first surprise of the evening *ruined early by showing him and Shannon Moore show up in a yellow speedster.

Here's hoping some bigger, better surprises.

Jeff Hardy is a good shot though, so I'm sure WWE is scrambling to hit back harder right now.

Also:
Harry Lockhart vs. Sorter with Thomas Cranmer

Sherlock Holmes was a knockdown, clever, fun and interesting film. Full of great action pieces, amazing costume design and dazzling set construction. The acting was top notch and the story unless you're a Doyle purist was quite perfect and flowed extremely well. I absolutely adored this film and think Guy Ritchie brought everything he's learned from Lock Stock, Revolver, Snatch and RockNRolla to craft a period piece that truly felt right. There was not a single moment where it was ridiculous, even if it was, because retrospectively everything worked, made sense and was explained quite stupendously... much like a good Sherlock Holmes mystery should be. It has everything, magic, cute dogs, hot women, conspiracy and the beginnings of what could be an awesome franchise. A franchise of Sherlock Holmes from the mind of Guy Ritchie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law? If you told me it was happening, I'd say you were crazy, but after seeing the first feature? I can't wait for me.

(so to explain the titles: Jude Law was Lemony Snicket and there is definitely some of Snicket in Law's Dr. Watson, curmudgeonly, daring, full of the strange. Equally there is some Harry Lockhart (of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) in RDJ's Sherlock. Giganto El Gigante was the first professional wrestling name of former WWE worker Kurrgan who goes by his name Robert Mailet and is a major adversary in the film. Sorter was lead bad guy Mark Strong's role in Guy Ritchie's Revolver and was just as sick and demented as Lord Blackwood, while Thomas Cranmer is the role of Hans Matheson (who is drop dead gorgeous) in "The Tudors")

An atypically uncheerful image of my husband, 1 hour into a 1.5 hour tube ride to Chesham, a northern suburb of London, for a friend's New Year's Eve party (zone 9!)


His frown turned upside down once we arrived and got dancing to Stax Records compilations, chatted with a pirate and enjoyed the sight of Dizzee Rascal singing backup for Boy George on Jools Holland (my admiration for ol' Diz, already quite pronounced, is now without limit - what other star, of hiphop or any other genre, would happily, quasi-anonymously, sing BACKUP for hours on end, before his own performance? A very selfless way to start the New Year, methinks).


Some New York sketches are on the way once things calm down at Aigburth Mansions....but in the meantime, all the glad tidings of the season!


PS And no, for those of you who know Stephen well, the 'stache did not survive the New Year's weekend...more's the pity!

A comic I did in about two hours with no pencils straight to the paper with limited supplies I happened to have on me for the amusement of Bouncing Souls fans and family at their annual Home for the Holidays shows this year. It was originally a fold-out one-pager so to reconstruct it for the internet it looks a little odd. Click each page to see the bigger version.

Enjoy!








Real-life Greg at the real-life show


Real-life DJ doing real-life texting (with sunglasses indoors)



Real-life DJ's real-life crack attack

Welcome back. Wait, shit. You didn't go anywhere; I did.

Anyway, maybe things are changing a bit here online. I've been more away than here, as you may have noticed. Ideas have been hard. Math is hard.

More geeking-out, more Truth entries, more So You Don't Have To, more Things I Can't Draw (both new ones and more from my youth.) Maybe, if I can find the ideas again, writing.

Let's start this week with the newly reorganized top of my green filing cabinet. Can anybody figure out the theme?



If I can pull off this change even just a bit...well, I'll feel better and with luck I'll be presenting you with a better read.

Expect different things here this year. New things.

Expect me to drop the ball on that.

I guess I just wasn't made for these times.

b

 

Christmas was OK, Big Gaming Week was fun, New Years Eve rocked.

Oh, and Mina's birthday party was fun too, I got to ride in a traaaaaaaaaaaaam.

Yeah, that's all for now, perhaps I'll do a proper indepth summation later, perhaps not. Currently couch surfing in Auckland.

RLP launches on Tor.com this Tuesday, January 5th.

Follow dangoldmandotnet via <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/dangoldmanfeed>this RSS Feed</a>

Disney Marvel is now official. What this will mean starting in probably March or April once any regular solicitations have finished is yet to be seen. I'm betting much of nothing.

The trailer for Christopher Nolan's next mind bending original story since Memento (and first completely original) , INCEPTION has gone live.

and there's also trailers for COP OUT (with Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan, directed by Kevin Smith) and KNIGHT AND DAY (Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, directed by James Mangold), two films which somehow didn't come up when I researched 2010 films a couple weeks back.

Of course nothing truly major in announcements for 2010 (if any other wrestling stuff) will come till Jan. 4th. So, let us all enjoy this weekend.... YEAH!

Here's a completely unrelated photo: