Amazon, A Pox On Your House

In case you didn't hear, last weekend featured a glitch on Amazon.com wherein a good many of their higher end (and higher priced) collections were priced at $14.99. Seeing that many of these titles typically retail for $65 to over $100, there was was obviously something akin to a gold rush. But, alas, the glitch went away and many of the orders were even canceled.

I missed the rush, but still intended on spending the last of the birthday money on a batch of B.P.R.D. trades (why was I so late to the Mike Mignola party?). So, Monday night, I logged onto my wish list only to find that all but one item was listed as "currently unavailable."


Huh?

Yes, well, it seems that due to the glitch and everyone trying to get while the getting was good, Amazon put a halt on the sale of pretty much every thing comic sold directly through the site. So for me, that means no B.P.R.D., no Hulk Visionaries, no Classic G.I. Joe, nothing. Except for Justice League International Volume 4 for some reason or another. Worse yet, there remains no word as to when the comics will go back on sale.

And I really wanted to spend the rest of my birthday money...

OK, Living In The Future Officially Sucks

Remember how as kids we thought all the cool stuff we saw in movies about the future was most assuredly going to come to fruition? Yeah, well, it turns out we're just getting the shitty, annoying stuff.

From The London Telegraph:

Engineers have developed the billboard, similar to one used in the Tom Cruise blockbuster [Minority Report]that uses in built cameras to instantly identifies a shopper’s age and gender as they walk past.

The facial-recognition system, called the Next Generation Digital Signage Solution, then offers consumers a product it thinks is suited to their demographic.

Really future? This is what you have to give us? No flying cars, summer homes on the moon, holodecks or even fucking Soylent Green? Lame, future. Really, really lame.

William Atherton Still The Biggest Dick Ever

So who do the Lost producers go to when they need a complete dick to out dick the show's uber-dick, one mister Ben Linus?

Why, William Atherton of course.


When Atherton's name came up in the opening credits, I felt such a sense of excitement pour over me. I knew that I was about to be witness to such dickery the likes of which have rarely been felt since the 1980's. That before me would soon play out a study in dickishness that young actors (and dicks at home) could study for years and years to come.

Yeah. Lost was pretty good last night...

Indiana Jones Five Might Be Contagious

As Harrison Ford has described to the BBC there being a "germ of an idea" for the next one. Crystal Skull most likely developed out of a germ as well but quickly mutated into cinematic herpes; it sucked, caused much discomfort and will stay with me the rest of my life.

So what is this germ? Ford doesn't really say, just that, like everything else these last 13 years, George Lucas gets to fuck things up for everyone in the end.

For a moment, let's pretend that George Lucas secretly comes here and takes what I have to say with some seriousness (I already do this, but for a moment, I want you to do the same). To keep another Goddamn fiasco like Crystal Skull from happening, here's all you need for a plot for the next movie...

1. Nazis- I know Indy is old as hell now, but Nazis did make their way to South America after the war. Indy needs Nazis.

2. Some Ancient Artifact, Preferably Biblical in Origin- The Spear of Destiny, Moses' toothpick, hell, the coat of many colors. Just, for the love of all that is good and holy, no aliens.

3. No Ants, Refrigerators, Prairie Dogs or Monkeys- These items speak for themselves I think.

4. Marion Ravenwood- Because Karen Allen just looked so happy to be there in Crystal Skull.

5. Mutt Out, Short Round In- Because at his worst, Short Round was NEVER as annoying and obnoxious as Mutt. Never.

Cool Insight Into Comic Law

Yes, that's right, I said comic law. As in, lawyers who focus on comic books. I just think that's kind of cool.

Anyway, the big news in comics this week hasn't been who's the next official members of The Avengers or Stan Lee writing new super hero comics for BOOM! Studios. No, the big news has been in Nick "My daddy was the demon" Simmons allegedly ripping off one of the most successful manga's in the world.

The short version: Nick Simmons' daddy is Gene Simmons, Gene Simmons had a reality show, Nick Simmons appeared on it, Nick Simmons wanted to make comic books, Nick Simmons did just that but possibly, likely, maybe completely ripped his entire comic off from Tite Kubo, creator of Bleach.

Tite Kubo to the left, Nick Simmons the right.

So despite all the online back and forth that usually occurs in situations like this. Comic Book Resources actually did some journalism and talked to (gasp!) an expert to get the skinny on just what the hell's going on and the likely end result of it all could be.

Spider-Man Might Want To Read Brand New Day Before Opening His Mouth

I'm betting Mephisto and Mary Jane (if she could remember anything) would say differently...

When Impressive and Sad Meet

That's Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings and it took one Patrick Acton three years and over 400,000 matches to build. Should I marvel at the feat or weep in sadness? I just don't know (from Sci Fi Wire).