Linko! LIII

* I'm sure we'll have one or two more Comic-Con related posts coming up across the weekend before we get back to our regularly scheduled stupidity, so I don't want to dwell too much on the big show here except to point out that the news I'm most excited about (and actually most nervous about) is the word that IDW will be publishing an anthology of new Rocketeer material. I held out hope for years that Dave Stevens would eventually come back and continue the adventures of Cliff Secord to absolutely no avail, but I'll take what I can get now, especially considering the talent the publisher seems to have lined up on the thing. Nice cover from Alex Ross, too.

* Wikipedia Hole Link! - This week, I ended up spending more time than any human should reading about Cap'n Crunch online after buying a throwback box of Crunch Berries which used the original Jay Ward version of the cereal mascot (I'm a sucker for throwback packaging and Jay Ward in general, so combining the two is a no brainer for earning my dollars). Still, along the way I got reminded of the legend of the "real life Captain Crunch" John Draper. Click through and read his page, for reals.

* Speaking of Wikipedia, is there anyone on the planet who knows one single Goddamned fact about Dan Buckley worth putting on his page?!?!?! I'm assuming there is.


* Cupcake POW! is an adorably funny webcomic. (Via)

* OK, I kind of lied about no Comic-Con links, but I felt compelled to share my thoughts on this post by actor and general nerdlebrity Wil Wheaton on Techland. I mean, I've spoken with Wheaton on the phone before, and he seems like a very nice person who honestly cares a lot about the various things he's passionate about, and good for him on that. But I've read a few of his screeds on this concept of some kind of shared nerd culture which we must all support or stand up for in the face of Hollywood publicists/jocks/morons/whoever doesn't belong to be an aggravatingly stupid and pretty offensive one. And when it comes to whether or not a week-long event dedicated to generally nerdy things attended by over 125,000 people is "destroying" that supposed culture, I'd almost laugh if the whole enterprise wasn't taken so seriously by those engaged in the discussion. I don't know. Maybe I'm just missing some key point, but as a person who loves things like comics and sci-fi and could take or leave most movies and video games, I find the idea that someone who gets paid an honest wage to come and promote a movie or whatever is a threat to me enjoying the things I enjoy to be kind of childish behavior. Am I way off base here?


* Lots of news from home this week for some reason. First off, if I've at all cornered you to talk about life in my beloved hometown of Flint, Michigan before, I implore you to read Gordon Young's story on Dan Kildee's attempts to make Flint a model city for the shrinking of depressed urban areas. I like the Kildee family an awful lot for personal reasons, and I grow more and more into a proponent of Dan's plans for the shuttered houses of Flint the more I read about it. Worth a glance.

* Meanwhile, Flint's "favorite son" Michael Moore has announced a plan to make Flint a pilot city for refurbishing old theaters and new, community run movie houses. I put the favored son thing in quotes because despite the fact that almost anyone I meet asks me about Big Mike whenever they learn where I'm from, I myself and most other Flint natives tend to think that his positive contributions to our city fall somewhere between bull and shit. This sounds like a nice plan, though. Good for Moore.

* Finally, I crack up every time I read about antiquated laws still on the books, and this particular article reminded me again of the hilarious Michigan law which prohibits swearing in front of women and children. I've heard tell of people being written up for that but as of yet have avoided such a fate for myself. Fingers crossed!