Reprints!
It's a Giant Size post tonight, to make up for not having done anything for ages, despite my vows in the New Rules for a New Life post,.
Teachers
My exam results were through on Wednesday, but I only got them on Thursday. On the whole, they were pretty good, with some kids seriously overperforming and some doing as poorly as was expected. The kid who was the biggest ballache for the last two years and was absolutely horrible to work with and was consistently abusive to me didn't turn up, getting a No Award. Not only did she get nothing but her nonsense for the last two years managed to drag down the motivation and marks for a whole lot of other people in the class. Lovely.
Let's hold on to my first thought though; on the whole, my results were pretty good. I'm happy.
TV
Breaking Bad Season 4 is bloody good. I screamed a fair bit in the first episode and it's not been quite so intense since then, but I have a feeling that episode 4 will ramp it back up.
Rome Season 2 is alright. The episodes do seem really long. I think that the cast might be a bit too big to keep everything together and interesting.
Podcasts
IGN Comics Smash is back calling itself IGN Assemble! They even seem to be a on a decent schedule. That will give me two weekly comics podcasts to listen to with Ifanboy and IGN, as well as the fortnightly House to Astonish.
I'm also enjoying the Breaking Good podcast, a Breaking Bad recap and analysis show.
Comics
I love Tom Katers' comments on the value of comic books. You can cut out the word "comic" and it works just as well. I love books. It's a shame that I've got a rubbish bunch to read just now.
The fantasy aspects of comic books have always been a draw for me. I can travel to the future, the past, beautiful utopias, and grungy alleys. Comics can allow you to escape the problems of the real world or they can let you jump into the mess from a different perspective. They are paper diving bells letting you peer into alien worlds. The tether for those bells is the emotional truth in a story. I can let a writer take me anywhere, as long as he pays me back with some feelings.
Ultimate Fallout #4 was a big deal because it introduced the Black/Hispanic Spider-man, but for me, it's all about this panel. It's Ultimate Reed Richards, now a villain. This is going to be ace.
And, in the finest traditions of Giant Sized Specials, classic reprints of old material.
Originally posted at Noscans_Daily
A while back I asked about digital comics and using a tablet computer to read them. I was rewarded with lots of good advice about webaites and apps, and apps, so thanks to everybody who contributed to the discussion.
I've had my GAlaxy for over a week now and have pretty much got to grips with it (though this is my first go at typing at length on it). I'm using ACV aka Droid comoc viewer to read comics that I have in cbr format amd it's good, though it does get tired easily amd stops working.
For proper digital comics, i'm using the comixology app. So far I've only got free previews of a number of indie books, but some of them are good enough that i fancy dipping my hand into my digital pocket and shelling out for properly.
The DC previews downloads are pretty good. Reading them.on the tablet looks.much better than reading it on my (very good) laptop.
Top free reads this far have included Matriarch, a book about a single mum, ad exec and superhero and Hero 9-5, a British based book about the superhero arm of the Welfare State.
Image's Ultra series, about a celebrity superhero is also tempting me, though it is only.available as 8 single issies at 1.99each.
Has anybody else experimented with digital freebies and has anything to recommend, or.is.curious about the.digital.life?
(I'm leaving all of the typoes in on purpose.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
An extract of a post originally posted at Scans_Daily
A few weeks ago, I asked about going digital. I've now bought myself a Samsung Galaxy 7 and it's pretty nifty.
I've downloaded the comixology app and can safely say that it's great. There's a lot of free previews available for indie books that I'd never have heard of otherwise. So far I've read previews of Matriarch (about a superhero/ad-exec/single mum. I'll probably get the full story soon), The Hope Virus (about a teenager whose diary becomes a manifesto for a dystopian future. The preview looked good, but only gave a prologue, so I don't know how the concept will turn out. I'm interested, at least), Malignant Man ("What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Let's apply that to a brain tumour. It's interesting), Ripped (a decent concept that somebody stuck a bunch of other concepts on to make it confusing, with art that muddies the storytelling experience. Not worth picking up), Memoir (about a town that develops collective amnesia, possibly about a mass-killing. Not that good, actually). There's a wad of DC previews, which look very smart, but it's for books that I'll not buy (though going digital will make it a bit easier to dip into things like Wonder Woman if I fancy it post reboot/relaunch).
There's a lot of good stuff underneath the big 2. It's a commonly held belief that 90% of everything is crap, but that doesn't mean that it's only the top 10% of the market that's any good. I like being able to explore books that receive less recognition (basically, it appeals to the inner ponce in me to be reading and enjoying a book that nobody else has heard of. Oh, the heady days of 2000, downloading free music from mp3.com of tiny bands from Los Angeles.)
So far, the pick of my freeviewing has been Hero 9 to 5, a book about the superhero arm of the welfare state. It's got a good sense of humour and raised a few guffaws out of me. The comic timing is largely spot on, though there's a few bits where they try a bit of 4th wall breaking that just falls on its arse.
The official synopsis is What if being a super hero was just like any other job? What if you fell in love with your arch enemy? What if your sidekick had a crush on you? Meet Jacob Reilly, aka Flame-O. He didn't want to be a hero, he wanted to be a rock star, but now he's stuck working for Heroes for Zeroes, and his life is about to get, really, really complicated.
Apart from my objection that the NHS doesn't call itself Healthcare for proles (and lets ignore the bollocks that Liz Jones has been spouting. Once you've read that article, give them your fucking money) and so I don't see why the government's superhero agency would be called Heroes for Zeroes. Surely somebody in Whitehall would have had a word with the relevant minister to suggest rebranding. Besides, in the Big Society, we don't need superheroes when we can just do it all ourself for free.
The art is decent, apart from the fact that most women have balls stuck on their ribcage instead of breasts. It's a good story and at £2.44 for all four issues, cost me less than S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 this week. Result.
_______________________________________________________________________--
I'm meant to be getting up early tomorrow. Time for bed, at 0213, I think.
Teachers
My exam results were through on Wednesday, but I only got them on Thursday. On the whole, they were pretty good, with some kids seriously overperforming and some doing as poorly as was expected. The kid who was the biggest ballache for the last two years and was absolutely horrible to work with and was consistently abusive to me didn't turn up, getting a No Award. Not only did she get nothing but her nonsense for the last two years managed to drag down the motivation and marks for a whole lot of other people in the class. Lovely.
Let's hold on to my first thought though; on the whole, my results were pretty good. I'm happy.
TV
Breaking Bad Season 4 is bloody good. I screamed a fair bit in the first episode and it's not been quite so intense since then, but I have a feeling that episode 4 will ramp it back up.
Rome Season 2 is alright. The episodes do seem really long. I think that the cast might be a bit too big to keep everything together and interesting.
Podcasts
IGN Comics Smash is back calling itself IGN Assemble! They even seem to be a on a decent schedule. That will give me two weekly comics podcasts to listen to with Ifanboy and IGN, as well as the fortnightly House to Astonish.
I'm also enjoying the Breaking Good podcast, a Breaking Bad recap and analysis show.
Comics
I love Tom Katers' comments on the value of comic books. You can cut out the word "comic" and it works just as well. I love books. It's a shame that I've got a rubbish bunch to read just now.
The fantasy aspects of comic books have always been a draw for me. I can travel to the future, the past, beautiful utopias, and grungy alleys. Comics can allow you to escape the problems of the real world or they can let you jump into the mess from a different perspective. They are paper diving bells letting you peer into alien worlds. The tether for those bells is the emotional truth in a story. I can let a writer take me anywhere, as long as he pays me back with some feelings.
Ultimate Fallout #4 was a big deal because it introduced the Black/Hispanic Spider-man, but for me, it's all about this panel. It's Ultimate Reed Richards, now a villain. This is going to be ace.
And, in the finest traditions of Giant Sized Specials, classic reprints of old material.
Originally posted at Noscans_Daily
A while back I asked about digital comics and using a tablet computer to read them. I was rewarded with lots of good advice about webaites and apps, and apps, so thanks to everybody who contributed to the discussion.
I've had my GAlaxy for over a week now and have pretty much got to grips with it (though this is my first go at typing at length on it). I'm using ACV aka Droid comoc viewer to read comics that I have in cbr format amd it's good, though it does get tired easily amd stops working.
For proper digital comics, i'm using the comixology app. So far I've only got free previews of a number of indie books, but some of them are good enough that i fancy dipping my hand into my digital pocket and shelling out for properly.
The DC previews downloads are pretty good. Reading them.on the tablet looks.much better than reading it on my (very good) laptop.
Top free reads this far have included Matriarch, a book about a single mum, ad exec and superhero and Hero 9-5, a British based book about the superhero arm of the Welfare State.
Image's Ultra series, about a celebrity superhero is also tempting me, though it is only.available as 8 single issies at 1.99each.
Has anybody else experimented with digital freebies and has anything to recommend, or.is.curious about the.digital.life?
(I'm leaving all of the typoes in on purpose.)
_________________________________________________________________________________
An extract of a post originally posted at Scans_Daily
A few weeks ago, I asked about going digital. I've now bought myself a Samsung Galaxy 7 and it's pretty nifty.
I've downloaded the comixology app and can safely say that it's great. There's a lot of free previews available for indie books that I'd never have heard of otherwise. So far I've read previews of Matriarch (about a superhero/ad-exec/single mum. I'll probably get the full story soon), The Hope Virus (about a teenager whose diary becomes a manifesto for a dystopian future. The preview looked good, but only gave a prologue, so I don't know how the concept will turn out. I'm interested, at least), Malignant Man ("What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Let's apply that to a brain tumour. It's interesting), Ripped (a decent concept that somebody stuck a bunch of other concepts on to make it confusing, with art that muddies the storytelling experience. Not worth picking up), Memoir (about a town that develops collective amnesia, possibly about a mass-killing. Not that good, actually). There's a wad of DC previews, which look very smart, but it's for books that I'll not buy (though going digital will make it a bit easier to dip into things like Wonder Woman if I fancy it post reboot/relaunch).
There's a lot of good stuff underneath the big 2. It's a commonly held belief that 90% of everything is crap, but that doesn't mean that it's only the top 10% of the market that's any good. I like being able to explore books that receive less recognition (basically, it appeals to the inner ponce in me to be reading and enjoying a book that nobody else has heard of. Oh, the heady days of 2000, downloading free music from mp3.com of tiny bands from Los Angeles.)
So far, the pick of my freeviewing has been Hero 9 to 5, a book about the superhero arm of the welfare state. It's got a good sense of humour and raised a few guffaws out of me. The comic timing is largely spot on, though there's a few bits where they try a bit of 4th wall breaking that just falls on its arse.
The official synopsis is What if being a super hero was just like any other job? What if you fell in love with your arch enemy? What if your sidekick had a crush on you? Meet Jacob Reilly, aka Flame-O. He didn't want to be a hero, he wanted to be a rock star, but now he's stuck working for Heroes for Zeroes, and his life is about to get, really, really complicated.
Apart from my objection that the NHS doesn't call itself Healthcare for proles (and lets ignore the bollocks that Liz Jones has been spouting. Once you've read that article, give them your fucking money) and so I don't see why the government's superhero agency would be called Heroes for Zeroes. Surely somebody in Whitehall would have had a word with the relevant minister to suggest rebranding. Besides, in the Big Society, we don't need superheroes when we can just do it all ourself for free.
The art is decent, apart from the fact that most women have balls stuck on their ribcage instead of breasts. It's a good story and at £2.44 for all four issues, cost me less than S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 this week. Result.
_______________________________________________________________________--
I'm meant to be getting up early tomorrow. Time for bed, at 0213, I think.