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| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 
 WEEK 12 NFL PICK'EM RESULTS.
 
 Week 12: 11-5, 68.8%
 Week 11: 9-7, 56.25%
 Week 10: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 9: Forgot again.
 Week 8: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 7: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 6: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 5: 7-7, 50%
 Week 4: 8-6, 57.14%
 Week 3: Whoops, forgot.
 Week 2: 7-9, 43.75%
 Week 1: 7-9, 43.75%
 
 Year to date: 79-69, 53.4%
 9:03:00 AM
 
 Monday, November 28, 2005
 
 SETTLE DOWN, BADGER HERALD!
 
 It has two Facebook-related columns in the span of eight days.
 8:31:00 AM
 
 Sunday, November 27, 2005
 
 FROM THE INBOX: a comic review.
 
 Gravy Boy Ashcan Edition
 Brian Shearer, art; Marty Blevins, story
 Jack Rabbit Stewdios
 16 pages
 Free
 
 The premise is cool: A being named Herald, who hates kids, gives kids superpowers, and he gives the main character the ability to manipulate gravity (the "it" was covered when he granted the powers). The art is OK, nothing particularly special, but it is clean, uses simple lines and makes it easy on the reader's eyes. The story is fun, original, but not exciting.
 
 The creators also have a webcomic, Fanboy Almanac, which is very funny.
 
 Grade: B-
 10:02:00 AM
 
 
 
 FROM THE INBOX: a comic review.
 
 Hero@Large #1
 Erick Hogan, story; Jeremy Treece, art
 Speakeasy Comics
 32 pages
 $2.99
 
 I really liked this book. Treece's art is kind of boxy and almost seemingly rudimentary, but there's a certain uniqueness about it that appeals to me. The story was pretty good, at times funny, especially with the rain sequence about half-way through the book. This is definitely a book I would check out in a trade if one were to come out. Also, I really dug Alpha Major's costume.
 
 Grade: B+
 9:51:00 AM
 
 
 
 CURRENTLY READING: "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century" by Thomas P.M. Barnett
 
 Just finished this book, and it was pretty good; a bit too much at times, seemingly going off on rambling tangents before getting back to showing how that anecdote coincided with the book. Overall, pretty good.
 9:22:00 AM
 
 Wednesday, November 23, 2005
 
 WEEK 12 NFL PICKS.
 
 Atlanta at Detroit
 Denver at Dallas
 Baltimore at Cincinnati
 Carolina at Buffalo
 Chicago at Tampa Bay
 Cleveland at Minnesota
 New England at Kansas City
 San Diego at Washington
 San Francisco at Tennessee
 St. Louis at Houston
 Jacksonville at Arizona
 Miami at Oakland
 Green Bay at Philadelphia
 N.Y. Giants at Seattle
 New Orleans at N.Y. Jets
 Pittsburgh at Indianapolis
 11:13:00 AM
 
 
 
 WEEK 11 NFL PICK'EM RESULTS.
 
 Week 11: 9-7, 56.25%
 Week 10: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 9: Forgot again.
 Week 8: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 7: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 6: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 5: 7-7, 50%
 Week 4: 8-6, 57.14%
 Week 3: Whoops, forgot.
 Week 2: 7-9, 43.75%
 Week 1: 7-9, 43.75%
 
 Year to date: 68-64, 51.51%
 10:57:00 AM
 
 Wednesday, November 16, 2005
 
 WEEK 11 NFL PICKS.
 
 Arizona at St. Louis
 Carolina at Chicago
 Detroit at Dallas
 Jacksonville at Tennessee
 Miami at Cleveland
 New Orleans at New England
 Oakland at Washington
 Philadelphia at N.Y. Giants
 Pittsburgh at Baltimore
 Tampa Bay at Atlanta
 Seattle at San Francisco
 Buffalo at San Diego
 Indianapolis at Cincinnati
 N.Y. Jets at Denver
 Kansas City at Houston
 Minnesota at Green Bay
 8:37:00 AM
 
 
 
 WEEK 10 NFL PICK'EM RESULTS.
 
 Week 10: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 9: Forgot again.
 Week 8: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 7: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 6: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 5: 7-7, 50%
 Week 4: 8-6, 57.14%
 Week 3: Whoops, forgot.
 Week 2: 7-9, 43.75%
 Week 1: 7-9, 43.75%
 
 Year to date: 59-57, 50.86%
 8:34:00 AM
 
 Tuesday, November 15, 2005
 
 JOHANNA DRAPER CARLSON has a review of Finder at Comics Worth Reading.
 
 She has a review for all seven volumes plus a review of the series overall.
 9:46:00 AM
 
 Monday, November 14, 2005
 
 WHEN CHEATING GOES ACADEMIC:
 
 A University of Pennsylvania professor claims that a colleague stole ideas from him and didn't attribute them to him in the colleague's new book.
 
 Just goes to show how important it would be to detail attempts at cheating on a university level.More than a dozen professors at schools including Princeton and Harvard universities have come to the defense of Edin and Kefalas, calling the charge of conceptual plagiarism "absurd." In response, Anderson compiled a list of 22 similarities between the books - both examine motherhood and marriage in the inner city - and posted the comparison on the Penn Almanac, a university Web site. Last Tuesday, a letter signed by 110 scholars who support Anderson appeared on the Almanac. The next steps are uncertain. Neither side has filed an official complaint at Penn, which would trigger a more formal inquiry by the university. The dispute could have ended last summer, when Anderson and Edin met to discuss their books, eventually reaching a confidential agreement. But in August, the issue became the talk of the American Sociological Association conference, held in Philadelphia. Afterward, disturbed by what he saw as official silence, Penn professor emeritus Harold Bershady sent an e-mail to the department faculty, making the charge of "conceptual plagiarism." When his e-mail was leaked to The Daily Pennsylvanian - the student newspaper that first reported the controversy - the furor ignited publicly.
 8:52:00 AM
 
 
 
 AWESOME HEADLINE:
 
 Somebody set us up, the bomb
 
 From the Calvin College Chimes.
 8:50:00 AM
 
 Friday, November 11, 2005
 
 FROM THE INBOX: a comic review.
 
 110% #1
 Kevin Bush, story; Matt Avery, art
 Grey Cloud Comics
 24 pages
 $2
 
 This amateur comic is just that: amateurish. But there is a lot of room for improvement. The story is muddled at a couple of points and I probably would have been better served reading it again, but I wasn't drawn into it enough to do so. That said, the cover is really great. I like it, and the green background adds to it. The art is nice, although not what I typically am into. It can be a bit rough and sometimes it feels like there's some stray lines here and there, but overall it's nice.
 
 Grade: C-
 6:46:00 PM
 
 Thursday, November 10, 2005
 
 NINJAS NEEDED: a review.
 
 Shaolin Cowboy #2
 Geofrey Darrow, art and story
 Burlyman Entertainment
 27 pages
 $3.50
 
 The art: just wow. I could look at it all day long. The detail is amazing; does Darrow adhere to a strict schedule? I don't follow the shipments too closely, so I don't know. And the crab character is amazing. (Yes, I've used amazing twice now, but so what.) The story is entertaining too, although I do wish that I had picked up the first issue instead of the second; you just always feel out of the loop doing so. Anything over $3 for price makes me look twice, but Darrow's work is worth every penny.
 
 Grade: A
 7:38:00 PM
 
 
 
 OFF ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD: a review.
 
 OZ: The Manga #1
 David Hutchison, adaptation and art
 Antarctic Press
 32 pages
 $2.99
 
 This book is all about the art. Hutchison's manga style is subtle at times, outright at others. The visual storytelling is magnificent; that's one thing I like about manga: the style of panels and how they interact on the page. In terms of story, there's not much that's original. It's a bit more condensed than the movie -- as one would expect -- and doesn't stray off the original path too much. But sometimes it's better to find a new path than to follow ones that have been paved.
 
 Grade: B+
 7:29:00 PM
 
 
 
 A LACKLUSTER REVIEW.
 
 Lackluster World #1
 Eric Adams, story and art
 Gen: Eric Publishing
 24 pages
 $3.95
 
 The art in this book is spectacular; I'm a big fan of big, bold clean lines in comics, and Eric Adams has that aesthetic appeal. The story was good, however, there was one point at which I didn't understand right away that the narration had jumped characters. That was a little bit muddy and threw me off for a page or two. It's 24 pages, a good length for an independent book, and the price is a bit steep, but the pages are sleek and it's worth the price.
 
 Grade: B+
 7:16:00 PM
 
 
 
 COMIC BOOK BOOTY.
 
 Collected today and last week:
 
 The Surrogates #1 of 5 (Top Shelf)
 DMZ #1, by Brian Wood (Vertigo)
 Aeon Flux #1 of 4 (Dark Horse)
 The Grimoire #4 (Speakeasy)
 Lullaby #1 (Alias)
 Hero @ Large #1 (Speakeasy)
 The Couriers, by Brian Wood (AiT/PlanetLar)
 Finder Vol. 1: Sin-Eater (Lightspeed Press)
 4:42:00 PM
 
 Wednesday, November 09, 2005
 
 I'M WAY BEHIND IN MY BLOGGING and there's probably a ton of stuff I've missed out on because of my busy schedule. Oh, well.
 
 At least I caught Shawn Hoke's post on The Secret Friend Society. Had I missed that, my life would truy be devoid.
 8:24:00 AM
 
 
 
 KEVIN HAS A NICE RUNDOWN of his own version of Previews.
 
 I must say, Truth Serum looks rocking.
 8:22:00 AM
 
 
 
 WEEK 10 NFL PICKS.
 
 Arizona at Detroit
 Baltimore at Jacksonville
 Houston at Indianapolis
 Kansas City at Buffalo
 Minnesota at N.Y. Giants
 New England at Miami
 San Francisco at Chicago
 Denver at Oakland
 N.Y. Jets at Carolina
 Green Bay at Atlanta
 St. Louis at Seattle
 Washington at Tampa Bay
 Cleveland at Pittsburgh
 Dallas at Philadelphia
 8:09:00 AM
 
 Tuesday, November 08, 2005
 
 WEEK 9 NFL PICK'EM RESULTS.
 
 Week 9: Forgot again.
 Week 8: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 7: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 6: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 5: 7-7, 50%
 Week 4: 8-6, 57.14%
 Week 3: Whoops, forgot.
 Week 2: 7-9, 43.75%
 Week 1: 7-9, 43.75%
 
 Year to date: 53-49, 51.96%
 9:40:00 AM
 
 
 
 A GOOD ESPN HEADLINE:
 
 Super Indy-cator?
 
 About the Indianapolis Colts' win against the New England Patriots last night.
 8:44:00 AM
 
 Monday, November 07, 2005
 
 SPEAKING OF COLLEGE NEWSPAPER STORIES WITH FACEBOOK REFERENCES:
 
 Facebook to Facebook
 Poll shows few conservatives
 A modest proposal
 Coming out at college
 Off the web and onto the streets...at least
 Life and Style
 The New Facebook Frenzy
 8:43:00 AM
 
 
 
 A COLUMN BY THE WINTHROP UNIVERSITY (S.C.) JOHNSONIAN is marred in controversy, a local TV station reports. The column is about a comparison of today's racial climate with that of the one blacks faced before the Civil Rights movement.
 
 Read the column here. Two snippets:
 
 Hurricane Katrina brought back to the public attention the ongoing issue of race relations in America. The tragedy quickly shifted from concern for the people affected by the hurricane to the judgment that the federal government did not like black people. Obviously, the federal government has a vendetta against the blacks and chose not to respond to them quickly, right?(An alert to the ever-increasing trend on campus newspapers to use networking sites like Facebook to bolster an argument, but I digress.)
 I guess we're assuming that the many people of various ethnic backgrounds in the Bush administration don't care about black people, either.
 
 Today in the daily student announcements I saw the "Black Fact of the Week." I did not have a problem with this in itself. Surely it is important for us to understand the contributions of black people in our lives. However, this is just one piece of an ever-complicating problem on campus.
 
 In case you don't know, there are quite a few groups on Facebook devoted to black people. Two in particular caught my attention: "Winthrop Does Not Like Black People" and "I Should've Went to a Blacker College."
 
 In fact, I think there has been a surge in specialized programs for people of various ethnic backgrounds. For example, I've been looking into summer research programs in psychology. I've noticed that most of the programs are limited to students of ill-represented groups (i.e., ethnic minorities). I am only half black and I don't want to use that as my way to get into a program.
 Ultimately, I think we need to achieve more equality. To be truly equitable, for example, we should offer programs that are specifically for whites. Yes, I just said that. I'm sure a lot of people just slammed the paper down and spouted a few expletives. But don't you see the logic here? It can't be a problem in one instance and not in another. Kids, that's called a double standard.
 
 This happens far too often, though. Some blacks are happy with the programs that benefit them. Once a similar program starts that is geared toward whites, all of a sudden the program becomes racist. Like a person I know once said, if an Association of Ivorites was established on campus, people would be up in arms.
 8:37:00 AM
 
 Thursday, November 03, 2005
 
 ON HEADLINES AND ESPN.
 
 Sports headlines are the ones that tick me off more than any other kind of headlines because it seems as though the writers forgo the notion about the headline having anything to do with the text.
 
 A perfect example is on ESPN.com this morning:
 
 Phil-in' itwith the text: 
  Sorry Phil, you can't coach what Kobe did Wednesday night. Bryant's jumper with 0.6 seconds in OT beat Denver.Well, if Phil's coaching didn't inspire Kobe to shot the game-winning shot -- indeed, if it was pure talent and not coached -- then Kobe didn't "Phil it." Sure, Kobe was feeling "it," that magical zone, but it wasn't because of Phil, it was in spite of him. The headline, then, just doesn't make sense. 7:51:00 AM
 
 Wednesday, November 02, 2005
 
 THE SUPREME COURT HAS REQUESTED a response from the lawyers of a Governors State administrator, a move that shows the court is interested in the case, some say.
 7:56:00 AM
 
 Tuesday, November 01, 2005
 
 ALAN MOORE SAYS he won't see the Watchmen movie.
 9:33:00 AM
 
 
 
 WEEK 8 NFL PICK'EM RESULTS.
 
 Week 8: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 7: 6-8, 42.86%
 Week 6: 9-5, 64.29%
 Week 5: 7-7, 50%
 Week 4: 8-6, 57.14%
 Week 3: Whoops, forgot.
 Week 2: 7-9, 43.75%
 Week 1: 7-9, 43.75%
 
 Year to date: 53-49, 51.96%
 9:26:00 AM
 
 
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