A horrible way to wake up.

I know some people are heavy sleepers, but why do this to yourself?

Handyman D

What do you do when you run out of space on your bookshelf? Add another shelf, of course.

Now, the school was kind enough to provide me with a bookshelf, meaning that I didn't buy it, nor know where to get an additional shelf. Chances are, they couldn't be had even if I did. So that meant doing the next best thing - making one. Turns out Home Depot sells individual shelves, but none in the size I needed (34"x11"). Thankfully, I'm well equipped to handle problems like this.

Back in Seattle, growing up, my Dad and I had a bit of a Sunday afternoon tradition: watching home repair shows on PBS. Not all my experience is academic either. I've built cabins, reroofed houses, remodeled bathrooms and even built an outhouse once. So, happy to put these skills to work again, I pulled out my saw and began to cover the floor of my little Manhattan apartment in sawdust.
A few cuts later and I've got a new shelf. As you can see, it doesn't exactly match, but that's not the point. The point is that through use of manliness and tools I was able to bring a little more order to my universe and reestablish myself as master of my domain.
Manly mission accomplished, I'd say!

Hooray

Finally, an ACLU case I can get behind. Did I mention I bought an iPhone 3Gs? Well, I did. TSA employee's better be watching out!

I now have a reason to go to Tokyo

So, I'm not a Gundam afficionado (I think I've made my interests pretty clear lately), but I can't tell you how cool I think it is that there's now a giant robot watching over Tokyo. What took so long?
Check out the rest of the photos over at Pink Tentacle. Please do it. They're awesome.

Also: a barrel monster and proof that nothing is above the awesome power of Scandinavian Design.

The skinny on those Beatles Boxes

Anyone willing to bet on how much the new Beatles remasters box set is going to go for in the US? Here's a few numbers to get you started:

• The UK Beatles store has it listed at £199, or roughly $327, at current prime rates, which averages to ~$23/album. Ouch.
  
• Pre-ordering the individual albums from Amazon puts the grand total at $213.86 before whatever taxes you'll be charged are added in.
• If the US price were identical to the UK price, you'd have to discount the box set ~35% to make it the same price as the albums individually. However, the box set includes a DVD and who knows what else, so there will be some kind of premium involved.
• The mono box set rings up at £210, or $345. Youch!
• The UK list prices and the US list prices match up fairly well, with the single albums being about $1 more in the US, and the double albums being about $3 cheaper. Grand total ~$6 more expensive in the US at current exchange rates.

OK, I've done the legwork for you. Go ahead and make your wagers. I'm guessing it will list for $275-$300, and Amazon will have it for ~$250.

The fall of Williamsburg

Looks like Williamsburg is having a bit of a rude awakening. Perhaps some of them will have some luck with this.

Caveat emptor

I consider myself to be a fairly savvy online shopper, but this time it seems I've been burned. The culprit: Alibris.com. This site serves as a broker for a ton of online dealers, and while looking for a recently unavailable title, I stumbled across a copy here. Turns out I should have done more research. It's hard to say whether the broker or the seller is to blame (I'm reserving my judgement), but with policies where they "ask your patience" when a book hasn't arrived by the quoted time, I'm leaning towards the broker. And if you've tried to get a place in NYC you'll know that brokers tend to be the bad guys. Maybe I'm biased.

So here I am, 2 weeks after the shipping date, 4 days passed the quoted deliver by date, still waiting on a book shipped to me via USPS Standard from Brooklyn. I'm never gonna see that book. And I'm doubtful if I'm ever going to see my money again. I don't know what sort of legar recourse exists to protect a consumer in a situation like this (I'm inclined to believe there is none), but surely a company that would like to maintain a good reputation should have some sort of options to keep the customer happy. Alibris, on the other hand, asks that you wait 30 days from the time of shipment before you contact customer service, and if the internets are to be believed, I've got a snowball's chance at getting my money back.

All told, I'm only out less than $20, which is a cost I can absorb, but I'll be damned if I think they deserve that money more than I do if this book isn't here past those 30 mandatory days of waiting. And from here on out, I'm placing my faith in Amazon's A-to-Z guarantee.

The great comic read of 2009, part 2

OK folks, here's part two of my adventures in nerdery.

The Ultimates - If you like comic book movies, you'll like The Ultimates. Thumbs up.

Marvels - I really liked this one. My only complaint is how abruptly the book ended, but maybe that's the point.

Death of the Stacys - This is where the events covered in Spider-Man: Blue actually happened. These old comics... they're great, but I sure am glad that superheroes don't explain their every move anymore. Borrow, don't buy.

Wolverine by Claremont and Miller - I had a pog with the cover of the first issue of this mini-series on it. I think I even bought a special hard plastic pog case to put it in because even then I'd heard how great this story was. And it is great, if you don't mind the two hokey X-Men issues they added to the end of it.

Longshot - So bizzare. This is a really strange mini-series. Fun in many ways, and I do like the character once he joined the X-Men, but the dialogue in this one is a bit too spacey even for me.

God Loves, Man Kills - Short, to the point, and excellently illustrated, this graphic novel is a pretty dang good read. Pretty classic X-Men themes (alienation, bigotry, etc). Recommended.

All Star Superman, Vol. 1 - Oh man. This title is so good. The dialogue can be a bit too sparse, but it pretty much sums up everything about Superman that made me smile as a kid.

The Dark Knight Returns - The classic. I hadn't read it before now. I'm not going to lie, some of this is really brutal, to the point where I had to take breaks when reading it, but it's so well crafted that after a brief respite I was back in to it again. A seriously well told story.

Batman: Hush - Interesting read. Not too much of a mystery, really, but I'm a sucker for Jim Lee artwork. Have been since I was a kid. Worth a read, but there are better Batman stories out there (Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, Year One).

Batman: The Killing Joke - Interesting book. Read it as a kid, but forgot a ton of it. Worth a borrow.

Don't worry, there's a gripping finale to this trio of posts still to come. Excited, aren't you?

Mission accomplished

Folks, I'm really trying to get this blog back on track. And this might not be the post that does it, but since today I achieved a big milestone in my (apparently very underachieving) life, I figured I'd share. I finally found an affordable copy of Condorman on DVD.
Seriously, this was one of my faves as a kid. Oh, it's a real zinger of a movie. The Phantom of the Opera flies around in spandex (well kinda). So it's not a real cinema gem, but when you're 8, that doesn't really matter. Point is, Disney decided to release it in their "just as great as Columbia House" DVD program, and lots of copies are appearing on the web, completely free of the entanglement of monthly automatic shipments. Lucky me.