Hosive

independent comics are like indie movies or indie music…..artists using their talents outside the mainstream to express theor vision and to tell their unique stories. there are two mega-indie comic shows in the us each year….one in sf and to my delight, one in bethesda, maryland. there are a dozen or so smaller shows trying to expand the market but these are the ones indie artists trek to to get buzz and hope to get discovered. but for years, taking advantage of living in montgomery county, the cbc pm would go to the small press expo in its various incarnations meeting artists like frank miller, paul pope, art spiegelman, jeff smith, craig thompson, ted rall and kyle baker. some bigger names but mostly lovable dreamers doing it for the love of the medium.

after a two year break post move to new york city, we returned to the show in 2007. and yay!…we will get to go this saturday only. so if you are in the area, stop by for our only area appearance. lunch is likely at urban bbq. a possible lost and found concert in the evening but not confirmed.

we’ve been traveling so i thought i would share a few places that we like to eat at not in nyc. again, not necessarily the best or whatever superlative…just places we go to regularly when we are in your town.

i do realize that this is a bit of a tourist trap, and a little gimmicky but we love garlic…..we love the smell of garlic and we love smelling like garlic! yay! garlic!

this is a garlic restaurant. they joke that they flavor their garlic with food as opposed to the other way around. they even have garlic ice cream which we tried once but probably never again. garlic desserts are only eh.

we always start with the bagna calda….cloves and cloves of garlic stewing in its own juices to go with bread. its pretty easy to fill up on bread at this stage if you don’t remember that more food is on the way.

i started with the filet mignon chili while caleb had the squishy rubber toy. in the foreground, garlic bread to go with the bagna calda

dan and jess treated us to this feast…..seafood grill with you know what sauce…..the 40 clove chicken…..sea bass with you know what rissotto….and of course, sides of garlic. the chicken is one of their featured specialties and takes 30-40 minutes to prepare. i’ve also had their pork chop which is also very good.

stuffed and smelling like garlic…..a strangely guilty pleasure. not as good as duartes but worth a visit every few years. we will be back!

i already have a column about comic books but i also wanted one exclusively on collecting(mostly toys). so i thought of the collector…the supervillian identity of the comic book guy on the simpsons….this is a nerdy homage to him, collecting and indirectly to matt groening.

i read somewhere that its part of human nature to collect. so a question to ask, that is strangely revealing, is what is it that we collect?……handbags, music, stamps, coins, shoes, clothes, memories, gadgets, junk, plastic bags to reuse, rocks…

currently i’m into the new toynami futurama toy line…….

here we are with wave 3 of the futurama figures! i also got these in dallas, same as the first wave…..i almost cheaped out and waited until i got home to pick them up because i misremembered the prices being lower at home. but turns out these figures flew off the shelves especially the bender one.

neglecting economics, i went for romance envisioning that it would be cool if i got most of these figures from texas…making collecting part of my texas years. so i went ahead and got them. if i did not, i would have had to go ebaying and paying a whole lot more. these were also the last ones on the shelves at the branch of dallas chain(lone star comics)…..i figured they had more in the stock room but the sales dude told me that these were it. i haven’t seen a bender in a store since.

and getting the third set means that we go robot building!

each of the figures….3 waves, 2 figures in each wave, 6 figures total….has one part or set of parts to the devil robot….for those of you weaker brothers, i take off the horns so its just evil robot or chinese new year robot. here i am assembling the robot in front of the figures….note the extra richard nixon severed head figure i talked about in the last entry.

and voila! the bonus figure with all the parts! i’m such a sucker for stuff like this.

in the background, we see a few things that theresa collects….including the ugly dolls and pom glasses.

the pom glasses come from the pomegranate juices….the glasses that come with the drinks are high quality and seem to be a waste to chuck so we use them as glasses. we call them lady glasses as opposed to the mason jars we use as man cups. maybe i’ll do an entry on them one day.

as for the ugly dolls, we’ve only bought 2 or 3 ugly dolls in our collection. in fact, out of all the ones in the window there, we only bought 1! when people find out that we like stuff, they graciously gift stuff for us. thanks, hamburger patty! also big shout out to julia! between to the two of them came the rest of them from party favors and vendor giveaways! in the fall, there will be an uglydoll convention in the city where there will be limited edition dolls, art and general ugly fun. i secretly long to get one of these dolls for my niece jaqueline and have it be here favorite toy…but i bet it winds up in a pile with other forgotten toys.

finally, another three waves of futurama figures have just been announced! with another bonus figure if you get all of them! looking forward to more collecting madness!

but next time, we’ll take a look at the variant figures!

our boy at the clinton global initiative in new york city this week:

Bono commenting on the current financial crisis facing the United States:
“I am not qualified to comment on what has happened in the last week where this city has changed shape, certainly psychologically, and in terms of some people’s wallets. And I’m not qualified to comment on the interventions that have been put forth. I presume these people know what they’re doing. But it is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable, treatable disease and hunger.”

sarah palin styled glasses are sold out….around the globe! there is a waiting list! the rimless glasses spiked in sales post vp announcement.

but guess who got hers years ago. its more like palin got theresa styled glasses.

in college, my groomsman william and i dreamed up a character called third world country guy and we said if third world country guy came to visit us in the states and saw the way we lived….while they ate rocks and bugs….he* would kick our @$$. price club would be an example. owning animals as pets instead of as potential food source is another. here is another:

no doubt that we are grateful for our friends jackie and larry taking us out for dinner on city island; the hidden gem of a seafood community in the bronx! the bronx!

but look at that dish…..advertised for 2….for 2! its 2 lobsters, calamari, shrimp, pasta and other shellfish. third world country guy could feed his whole village!

this is was my soft shell crab dish…..for 1! for 1!!!

normally i get one or two with a typical soft shell crab dish…i got four! they were pretty big suckers too.

here are the leftovers from the dish for 2. look at the “doggy bag” we were given.

we invited steph and angie over for dinner and the four of us couldn’t finish it! this is what america is all about. no wonder third world country guy is so angry!

* of course on 9/11, we discovered that third world country guy had a name.

back on the road! or back to the road……..

we’ve been traveling so i thought i would share a few places that we like to eat at not in nyc. again, not necessarily the best or whatever superlative…just places we go to regularly when we are in your town.

we love supporting local joints especially when the food is yummy. there are big box chains in the area that serve fish tacos and other cali-mex fare but when we are in valencia in the la area, we come here for tasty mexican food. i think that they only have a few of these in the area.

you can see in the way back that their slogan is ugly is cool. i think they are referring to the lizard that they are named after but they’ve managed to make their version pretty cute. i declined on the t-shirt that boasted that ugly is cool though. didn’t want anyone affirming me.

what’s better than fish tacos? fish burritos! though i like the yummy crispness of hard tacos, i really like the mix of fresh fish and spices, rice and beans…in larger amounts. at wana iguana, there are a few seafood options including two fish choices for tacos and other wraps. i like the hearty mahi burrito. and i always decline on cilantro since it makes the burrito….ok, it ruins it for me. cilantro is my krytonite…..for my taste buds.

theresa opts for a loaded pork burrito with peppers and hot sauce. and a shrimp cocktail though she swears she ordered a shrimp taco.

but i realize that these pictures don’t do the food justice. like many hole in the wall joints, the selling point is that their food that tastes like it came out of someone’s kitchen. the portions are bigger and service is friendlier. and my money goes to mom and pop….and not the man. the man’s got enough of my dough.

viva la hole in the wall!

duh! journal scours the earth for dumb behavior….some lowbrow…some high minded….some mindbending…..but all duh!

for those of you who thought that china was nuts on censorship….below, rick reilly of espn.com details the university of virginia’s silly(duh!)plan to ban signs at all sporting events. a simple google will yield further outrage and anaylsis from others….but just not as funny.

Do you miss Beijing? Are you pining for some good ol’ fashioned totalitarianism? Enjoy seeing any small voice squashed like a ladybug under a Hummer?

Then come to the University of Virginia!

At Virginia a new rule bans signs of any kind at all sporting events, including football and basketball.

Not advertising signs, of course. Not “Beer: $8″ signs. Not “Give to the Virginia Scholarship Endowment” signs. No, only signs about Virginia teams, such as the one then third-year bio-medical engineering student David Becker held up at last year’s Duke football game, which read, “Fire Groh!” That’s Al Groh, the Virginia football coach who always manages to beat the Davids, but rarely the Goliaths.

“No signs,” the gendarme told Becker in taking away the sign. Becker asked why. Nobody knew. So he made another sign, this time smaller, thinking maybe it violated some kind of size-limit rule. They took that one, too. Becker asked why again. “Word from the athletic department,” the guard said. So he wrote “Fire Groh!” on a sheet of notebook paper. The guard took that, too, saying signs of a negative nature weren’t allowed and that if Becker wanted to go for one more, he’d gladly pitch him out under an “exit” sign.

THIS IS UN-AMERICAN. THIS ISN’T HAVANA. WHAT’S NEXT? NO YELLING? NO GRUMBLING? NO HEAVY SIGHING?

Now—no signs at all, pro or con. At Virginia! The nation’s first secular university! Founded by Thomas Jefferson himself in 1819! Framer of the constitution! Champion of “certain inalienable rights,” like free speech! The man who once wrote: “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing”!

Who, exactly, is Virginia protecting here? Groh? The man can handle himself. After all, he was once the head coach of the New York Jets.

“Seems odd,” says former Virginia star and current Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber. “You’d think if there was one university that would stand up for free speech, it’d be Virginia. When I was there, the signs were really clever.”

I’ll go farther than that. I’ve covered plenty of games where the only clever part of the game was the signs. College football without signs is like pretzels without salt. Who can forget these signs from last season?

“WE WANT A NEW CARR WITH LES MILES!”—Michigan fan

“KANSAS FOOTBALL: A TRADITION SINCE SEPTEMBER!”—Jayhawk fan

“IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU ARE NOT A CORNHUSKER”—Colorado fan vs. Nebraska

Or, my favorite sign of all time in any sport, from a Bruins game in the ’70s: “JESUS SAVES AND ESPOSITO SCORES ON THE REBOUND!”

Virginia’s athletic department says it instituted the policy to promote a “positive game-day environment.” Ugh. Sounds like some $150/hour therapist wrote that one. Someone with tissues in all their pockets and a “Ban Dodge Ball” bumper sticker on their car. Whoever wrote it doesn’t get this: 99% of sports signs are positive.

Can you imagine what Jefferson himself would’ve thought of this new jack-booted policy? True, he grew to rue freedom of expression a little toward the end of his life, since the press was hammering him on his long-time affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. (This might be why, to this day, Virginia still doesn’t have a journalism school.) But I ask you: What’s the point of founding a free university if that university is going to tell its students what they can say?

For instance, how are Virginia students supposed to express themselves about the Cavs’ 52-7 home opener loss to USC last Saturday? White T-shirts and Sharpies? Sign language? Hats worn at an angry angle?

“That’s the thing,” says Robert O’Neil, director of the Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, also in Charlottesville. “We don’t quite know what constitutes a sign. Paint on someone’s chest? A T-shirt? It’s not quite clear.”

One thing is clear. This is un-American. This isn’t Havana. What’s next? No yelling? No grumbling? No heavy sighing? How are students supposed to effect change at their school? Morse-code flashlights? And if they can censor students at the stadium, what’s to keep them from doing it on The Lawn?

And if we’re worried about a “positive game-day environment,” shouldn’t Groh be held to it, too? Remind me: What’s so “positive” about 52-7?

This Saturday, the Cavs play Richmond and they’ll be wearing special throwback jerseys. Seems superfluous. Virginia’s already a throwback. To 1775.

Here’s what Virginia students should do for every home game from now on: Bring signs that say nothing. Bring signs that say, “This Is Not a Sign.” Or bring 60,00 signs and let the athletic department goons try to sort them out.

Because sometimes rebellion isn’t just a good thing. It’s the only thing.

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how long before the school realizes that they have an unenforceable policy….and that this is making them look duh!

i had a much longer u2hosiveography about 9/11 brewing to close the week…but it was just too hard to finish. so rather than put out a limp product, i’ll conclude this year by giving a preview for next year. or whenever my heart can put the pieces together. its still that hard to process the times, 7 years later.

u2 wrote the ultra prophetic song ‘please’ in 1997…about political and religious fanatics. they played in on tour to support pop in 97 to modest applause. the song was out of phase. but on 9/11, it came into its time and u2 brought an acoustic version for its post 9/11 elevation tour in the us.

a sample of the lyrics:

September, streets capsizing
Spilling over, down the drain
Shards of glass, splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain
October, talk getting nowhere
November, December
Remember, are we just starting again

Please, please, please
Get up off your knees
Please, please, please
Please
So love is big, it’s bigger than us
But love is not what you’re thinking of
It’s what lovers deal, it’s what lovers steal
You know I found it hard to recieve
‘Cause you, my love, I could never believe

new york from an indirect angle…..a few indirect angles….

in this segment, i’ll detail my amore for the art and medium of comics. the title comes from a comic shop i frequented as a kid in the city and a nod to my boy q and his blog.

in previous entries, i traced my history with comics…..in junior high, i read an epic fantasy series called elfquest that sadly has not gotten a larger audience via a television show or movie. with the current cultural milieu that includes lord of the rings and harry potter and where almost every comic book is being translated for the screen, perhaps elfquest missed the boat. or showed up too early for it. too ahead of its time. however, i did just discover that they will try again. i wonder how my friends from almost 30 years ago will react to a movie. it may resurrect some latent memories. some deeply buried memories.

elfquest came out quarterly and with each issue, it got passed around my homeroom for weeks even months. my sister also was a big fan. after reading elfquest, many of my friends asked if i had any other recommendations and that’s when i started sharing my comics. i got better copies, hardcover and collected editions, so that i could share stories with my friends. today, i frequently loan out stuff from my library as well as have people come over just to browse and discover stories before hollwood comes to shrink, ruin and reimagine them. perhaps i’ll do a longer review of elfquest in the future.

here’s what i’m currently reading:

dmz proposes that perputual war and conflict is how our species does life. so why do we assume as americans that war cannot take place on our own soil….with our own people. a cival war breaks out in the united states with manhattan island becoming a demilitarized zone.

military folks rave that it is an accurate portrayal of occupation, conflict and warzone life…an incredible achievement. its also about my beloved city as the new york times called it a love letter to new york. the story explores different neighborhoods and how they morphed when things go awry. its like stepping into an alternate nyc…something familiar, something i still love but am weary of.

the story primarily follows matty, a reporter who starts out as an intern until everyone gets killed and he becomes the only news guy in the dmz. themes of truth, media, journalism….how these disciplines get warped in the politics of war are constant. an intelligent, nuanced read that stretches the expectations and parameters of what kinds of stories comics can tell.

i’m reading them in trade paperback form right now.

i’m also reading superman. that can apply to clark or to grant.

grant morrison is one of the current arcitects of the dc universe entrusted with bringing superman, batman and their super friends into the 21st century. a few years ago, dc started these all star lines of comics without the constraints of chronology and back stories to make the characters accessible to non-fans. however, delays have made the comics frustrating to find and follow. luckily, they have collected the superman issues and are releasing them in 2 hardcover volumes. the first one is out now with a second one forthcoming in the new year.

grant takes the grand themes of superman and puts them on steroids(or some drug of his choice): space, heroicism, humanity, courage, good and evil. all the classic characters and relationships are touched upon: villians like luthor, friends like jimmy olsen and lois lane and family like ma and pa; but everything is elevated to something new. he is writing the ultimate and perhaps last superman story.

he’s doing the same over in the mainstream batman line where it is rumored that he is going to kill bruce wayne and replace batman with one of the former robins: dick grayson, jason todd or tim drake.

the art by frank quitely clean, cartoony, trippy and beautiful to view. a great marriage to morrison’s words. these two creators went nuts together in a few previous works including their epic run on x-men.

i can’t wait for the second half to be released!