Captain Harlock

Richard Jeni was one of those guys who you really liked seeing. This is really a shame.

Welcome aboard!

Incidently fellow true believers (thank you Stan Lee!), Marvel has been making animated features as of late and they are actually quite good. There's currently three on the market; Ultimate Avengers Ultimate Avengers 2 The Invincible Iron Man There's a Dr. Strange feature on the way and there's rumored to be a new animated version of Daredevil, Hulk, Silver Surfer, as well as The X-Men in the works.

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Let's see if my memory serves me correctly. As the story goes at the end of World War II Baron Zemo launched a missle toward the United States. Cap and his then sidekick Bucky attempted to stop the missle but it exploded over the North Atlantic. Cap fell into the ocean and because of the Super Soldier formula he was in suspended animation until Prince Namor (Submariner) found him encased in a block of ice being worshipped by an Eskimo tribe. Namor in anger threw the block into the ocean and it was retrieved by the Avengers who were in pursuit of Namor. That's what I remember reading anyway.

I would respond to this idiotic and inane comment that you so willfully displayed your ignorance with, but I refuse to stoop to your level. I guess growing up in Australia, a nation without any kind of heros will do that to you.

Seems it was relevant enough for Stephen Colbert's "The Word" last night. Pan down the videos list and look for "Comic Justice". What can I say... Colbert is THE MAN!!! The Word: Comic Justice!

Naw....REALLY?!?! Yeah of course they're fantasy. But you know what, it's fun. All societies have "mythology". Whether it's the Norse or Roman gods, the Greek myths, or the tale of Gilgamesh. There have always been tales of larger than life figures accomplishing great and heroic deeds. And being from a country that didn't have a mythology we created one. And that's what superheros are, mythic figures. Sure they may wear spandex, spin webs and climb walls but the idea is the same. As someone who grew up reading comics the basic theme that you took away was always the same; making the right choices. What do I do with my abilities? Do I choose to be selfish or do I help others before me? And if you go back and actually READ the story you'll see that Cap CHOSE to use his newly given abilities to serve his country before himself. Ben said to Peter Parker "With great power comes great responsibility". A quote that to me was more relevant and more poignant than any from Shakespeare, Dickens, or Arthur Miller. And that's what I take from it.

For all of us comic book fans out there... Captain America, casualty of Civil War Mar 7, 2:41 PM EST NEW YORK (AP) -- Captain America has undertaken his last mission - at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the New York Daily News reported. On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse. It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941. Over the years, some 210 million copies of Captain America comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in 75 countries. But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada said a Captain America comeback wasn't impossible. Still, the character's death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon. "We really need him now," said Simon, 93, who worked with artist Jack Kirby to devise Captain America as a foe for Adolf Hitler. The superhero was spawned when a scrawny arts student named Steve Rogers, ineligible for the army because of his poor health but eager to serve his country, agreed to a "Super Soldier Serum" injection. The substance made him a paragon of physical perfection, armed only with his shield, his strength, his smarts and a command of martial arts. In the comic-book universe, death is not always final. But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel is developing a Captain America movie. I really hope this isn't the end of Cap. It might be an attempt to grab publicity for the movie but it's still a sad image. And thus a hero dies.

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report' and of course, 24!

See the problem is not that she's trying too hard. It's that her material is horrible. Alot of the jokes sound like they were written by a five year old who just learned a dirty word. As far as being offensive, she doesn't really pull that off well either. Carlos Mencia does it well. Sam Kinison did it EXTREMELY well. But her delivery is stiff and predictable. I don't know how her show got picked up for another season only two episodes in but it's got to have something to do with the fact she's doing Jimmy Kimmel.

Sorry guys, I don't think she's funny. Not even by accident. The show is atrocious. I watched the first episode and thought "it can't be this bad". Then after the second one I said "yeah it IS that bad!!".

Hey, I've been "circulating" since 1970!!

Oy vey!

He's out of control!!

Gord, the company Valve who made the game developed this program called Steam to try and sell games directly to consumers via download. What they also did in the process is implement a system to try and prevent piracy. The program Steam also logs your "stats" in during the game. If you attempt to remove Steam the game will not boot up. Essentially you need to it to play the game. What this also does is it prevents you from selling the game. The CD key you need to install the game then connects you to Valve's servers and auto registers the game software. So even if you try to buy a used copy you'll get something akin to "This copy is registered to another account". The thing that really irks me is that in the game case there's no manual, no documentation, and nothing on the outside of the box telling you that you are required to install Steam to play this game. To me that's a deceptive business practice. Some have said "why is this a problem? Why is it such a hassle to connect to the internet to play this game?". The problem I have is that again there was nothing on the game box to tell me that this was the case. Also, why does the software maker "need" to monitor my game stats and what's to stop an unscrupulous employee from accessing my passwords or try to circulate a virus via their program?

As one of you may know I bought Half Life 2 today for the PC. Now if any of you play games you'll know that you install it and then play. This thing forces you to install something called "Steam". It drops a running process on to your Startup List and it's essentially spyware. To me this is just wrong. Now I can't take it back because there's no refunds on opened software and the game is tied to the "registration" when you enter the CD key. Now I have to eat it and take a loss. And there I was with season three of 24 in my hands!!

Nothing really too "malodorous" this year. In past years I've gotten things like popcorn makers (I eat maybe a handful a year, a maker is pretty much extraneous). One year I recieved a woman's sweatshirt. I'm not kidding!! I didn't find out it was on until I tried to return it. There have been quite a few things throughout the years like that. One year I got a bottle of cologne. I think that sat up on a shelf untouched for five years. Jackets, clothing, etc. Comedian Jim Gaffigan said once there's always that horrible moment when you open something and someone says "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Birthday!" and you say "Not even close".

Maryanne, I attempted to bring back the television to Wal Mart and they said that the 90 days were up and they no longer had to honor their return policy. I said "You're telling me that you sold me this product and you're no longer going to stand behind it? Is that it?". They said in no uncertain terms that was indeed the case. Another time they couldn't find my photos in the photo lab. I went back the next day and told them I wasn't going to pay the 1 hour charge and the young lady at the photo counter said that I had to anyway. I said "Listen, I came here to pick up my photos and you couldn't find them. That's on you. So why should I pay for a mistake that YOU made?". And I kid you not she said "Just because it says 'one hour photo' doesn't mean you're pictures will be ready in hour". I looked at her and said "WHAT DO YOU THINK 'ONE HOUR PHOTO' MEANS?? It's self explanitory!". I ended up paying the one hour photo charge even after speaking to the manager for my film and told her I was going to bad mouth them to everyone who would listen. They were pretty much speechless. So either this is indicative of the Wal Mart corporation or the stores in my area are loaded with extremely stupid employees. Either way I can't stand them.

I should add the my first bad experience was when I bought a 19 inch color television from Wal Mart. I worked fine... for 90 days. On day 95 it started making this high pitched squealing sound. Finally 6 months later it crapped out on me completely. Two hundred dollars down the tube!

It never ceases to amaze me. For a store with so much merchandise I always walk out of Wal Mart pissed off and empty handed. I attempted to purchase season 2 of 24 tonight. First Circuit City was out of them. So was Target. I ended up at Wal Mart and every copy they had there was a loose disc inside. The last one seemed okay. But it was ten dollars MORE than everywhere else and I was so ticked off I said screw this! I'm taking my chances and ordering it on Amazon. And don't get me started about their CD selection!! Some people don't understand my disdain for the corporate goliath that Sam Walden created. But I really hate it.

Dammit I love 24!! I'm just sayin'!

Hey all. My antivirus is about to expire and I need recomendations on a good program. I've used Norton's in the past but the 2004 version I bought a few years back crashed and burned. So unless they've made improvments I'm looking to try something else. Thanks in advance.

John Lennon - "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" Paul McCartney - "Wonderful Christmas Time" Billy Squier - "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You" The Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) Charlie Brown Chorus - "Christmas Time Is Here" Weird Al Yankovic - "The Night Santa Went Crazy"

I am chartruese with envy!!