Jerry Falwell Dies; GOP Panics

As is being reported by major news networks now, “Moral Majority” founder, the Reverend Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his Virginia office this morning, and later pronounced dead (or “extremely sleepy”) at an area hospital.

Although I had nothing serious against Falwell or his bizarre, right-wing politics, if anything, the impact of his death on the Republican Party will be interesting in that it gives them one less person on the religious right to suck up to come election time.

I’ll bet Mitt Romney and John McCain are scrambling right now…but ten bucks says Bush has a front-row seat (fiddling with his I-Pod) at Falwell's funeral.

Note: Click here for an interesting piece on Falwell’s impact on American politics (or lack thereof) by Newsweek’s Johnny Alter.

Disc Golfing is Cool. No, I’m Serious. It is.

This past Saturday, I joined a small group in kid-friendly utopia Naperville, Illinois, to take on nine-hole disc golf course which I was able to par for several holes, only to spectacularly collapse on the final four.

Although I had played the course before, I learned again that in DG the wind is a constant nemesis. Even the most stable throw can be screwed up by a sudden cross-breeze, quickly bolloxing up what had been a good round. Still, it was a bright, sunny day so it’s hard to complain in either case.

As a disc golfer, I would classify myself as having average skills for a beginner, which is why I’m registering as such for an open tourney in Joliet on June 9^th. The organizers promise prizes for the top 40% of finishers on a 23-hole course, which probably means I’ll clock in at the 41^st percentile.

Oh, well. As long as it doesn’t rain, I’ll be happy as long as I don’t injure my wrist, or get attacked by troops of disc-snatching baboons.

Don’t tell me they aren’t out there lurking in the woods either….I know the truth, dammit…

In Which I Have My Number Retired

This is me last weekend in Cheshire, England, getting my jersey retired for Crewe Alexandra.

What a great day. Both fans and team management couldn’t have been more gracious, and I’ll always cherish their support.

“Today….I consider myself…the luckiest man…on the face of the earth.”

Note: Okay, I’m fudging. This is footballer Luke Varney, not me. I almost had you though, didn’t I?

And to my knowledge, no. Luke and I are not related.

To Hell With Batman...Or At Least This Version...

Not to go all activist on you, but word has it that Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s “All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder #5” is due on store shelves on May 16.

The reason I cite activism is that any comic collector with an ounce of self-respect will ignore this book--and any successive issues—due to its infernal lateness, not just of a month or so, but nearly a year.

Why the delay?

The scuttlebutt has Jim Lee having overwhelmed himself with too many commitments to keep up with illustrating “ASB,” but what makes me even angrier is that DC didn’t just fire him and assign another artist to the book.

After all, that would have made sense. But hey, wanna keep the fanboys happy, right?

Screw ‘em, I say! Screw ‘em all….

Baby Boomers

Although I am not a parent myself (or at least not to any human kids), I’ve always found it odd how some white-bread, evangelical families seem to think having a maximum baby count is somehow a tribute to God. Or even stranger, that every sexual encounter between a well-scrubbed Christian man and wife must somehow aim for conception.

This isn’t something that irritates me, per se, as quite frankly, if a couple wants to have 26 kids or none, that’s their call.

Still, I found the following on Pandagon today, and couldn’t help laughing:

Spidey Meets Jesus

Via the blokes at Newsorama, I had to pass along the following snippet of Biblical mirth:

Excelsior!

The Big Recap

Wow, I am both sunburned and well-rested; always a nice combination after coming off a vacation.

But here’s the rough breakdown of my activities out east: got in early on Thursday AM, observed lazy pandas at the National Zoo (I was told they’d dance for nickels or bamboo; an obvious lie by zoo staffers), toured the Capitol Rotunda (lavish, cluttered with statuary), had a nice dinner at Legal Sea Foods back in Virginia (nummy chow-dah), and happily crashed at my hotel.

Next day (this is Friday, stay with me now), I navigated up to Georgetown where I killed time at the GW Campus (very pleasant), and later met a cool local couple (B.J. & Sarah) who educated me on the horrors of Beltway-area real estate prices (as in $850K for a studio-style condo) before I checked out “Spidey 3” (fun, way too many sub-plots) at noonish.

Then drove up to Charm City where I sampled some genuine grog at the Admiral Fell Inn (tasted like weak cough syrup – pah!), got a second tattoo at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum on Eastern Avenue (thanks Dave), had dinner at Kooper’s (where I met a friendly Red Sox fan), and followed a neighborhood tour by local ghost-hunter Vince Wilson after dark.

The rest of the trip, capped off with a game at Camden Yards where I sat beside a cute, geeky Jersey girl named Kristen (who shared with me her devotion for all things Superman, and Cleveland Indians LF Jason Michaels), went as smoothly as I could ever ask.

I'll try to post my digital shots here soon.

It’s nice to be home, but I’m already looking forward to the big Comic Con in July out west.