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Slumber Partly

I will be at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto this weekend with Blind Ferret and Randy Milholland of of Something*Positive. I will be at booth #844. More info HERE.

Doesn’t the army have a gum that Navy Seals chew to stay awake for like 72 hours? I’m pretty sure I read about that one night… morning… possibly afternoon. When you never sleep, it all sort of bleeds together. Working for yourself and working from home is a deadly combination. There’s no one telling you that you HAVE to do anything at any certain time and there’s nowhere that you have to go where your bed and TV aren’t. Despite this ease of procrastination, I often find myself working 3 to 4 five plus hours “shifts” in a day. Any time that I’m not producing feels like loafing because I am always physically AT WORK. I’m here, I’m awake, why am I not working? Dinner? That’s for gold brickers! TV? Well sure, I’m going to watch a lot of it, but I’m going to feel guilty as all hell about it.

Anyway, I’m not complaining. I’d rather be going to bed at 5am, sleeping until 2pm and feeling out of phase with reality everyday while drawing cartoons for a living rather than getting up at 6am just so I can spend 10 hours in a place I don’t want to be, with people I don’t like, doing a thing I don’t care about just so I I can get home at 7pm, eat dinner, watch 2 hours of guiltless TV then go to bed and do it all over again. To reiterate: I AM NOT complaining.

COMMENTERS: Do you get enough sleep? Does anyone? How do you quiet the demon to-do list in your head? What are your tricks? Potions? Spells? Booze?

ANOTHER THING! 

Check out these Tetris earrings my wife made! 

Tetris Earings!

 

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Miles · 95 weeks ago

Booze, sad to say. As a student, I need to sleep, and often, I drift off, and get a text from some godless idiot (or my brother) that wakes me up and my brain will no longer shut off. So, my secret potion is booze. Maybe a Vodka martini (I have a bottle of Stolichnaya on my desk). Maybe a Rum and tonic. If I drink just enough, in a half hour I get that buzz going and my brain stops sabotaging itself, and I can achieve sleep without having a hangover the next day.
Needless to say, tonight, I both failed to imbibe, and am failing to sleep.

1 reply · active 95 weeks ago

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The Unknown FB · 95 weeks ago

You know, they make a function that turns off the noises/vibrations on them thar cell phones. They also come with an “OFF” switch.

But, perhaps your liver will thank you for your home sleep remedy eventually. Good times there.

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Chamaco230 · 95 weeks ago

Stop complaining!
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Bill Murphy · 95 weeks ago

I get enough sleep. However, I’d sleep ten hours if there were no witnesses.
Booze? Sure.
But when my head is wondering and I can’t sleep after an hour, I just get up and do whatever is keeping me awake. Then I usually fall asleep two hours later.
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Becky · 95 weeks ago

To get my stress levels under control and NOT have a heart attack by 35, a health coach (which is a nicer-sounding name for behavioral therapist) taught me how to deep breathe right before I went to sleep. Took a couple of weeks of practice for me to feel like I was doing it right, and another couple of weeks for me not to feel like a right idiot when doing it, it manages my stress well. And, bonus side effect, it seems to have cured my work-guilt-induced insomnia – I count back from 100 on every exhale and have yet to make it to 50.
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Dan · 95 weeks ago

I learned I have to force myself to follow standard work hours: I work from 8ish to 5ish and that is all. I do not allow myself to work in non-work hours, and I don’t let myself loaf (too much) during those hours. Of course, having two school-age kids helps enforce this – they get on the bus, and I work until they get home. After following this pattern for a few years, I started shifting the time I felt most creative from the inconveniently located late at night to the daytime.

P.S. re: the comments about drinking to fall asleep – be careful. A friend had insomnia, and ended up in the hospital after unintentionally combining a drink with sleeping pills.

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Jason· 95 weeks ago

I have several friends who work from home, and one thing I’ve heard that works very well for (almost) all of them is to have a, well, a commute.

See, they designate a certain part of the home as their “workplace.” When it’s time to work, they go to the workplace, and when it’s time to stop, they leave it. The trick is to make sure it’s not an office or den or other area where you do other things besides work. Sure, that’s not practical for everyone, but it doesn’t have to be much either. Maybe it’s a chair or table that you only sit in when you’re working.

My friends who’ve tried this say that it’s really weird and dumb and HOLY SHITBALLS IS IT EFFECTIVE. They know it’s a stupid brain trick, but it actually does help them mentally separate “work time” from “home time.”

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Ali · 95 weeks ago

I don’t know about the Army having gum for Navy SEALs. Probably the Navy has gum for Navy SEALs.

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The Unknown FB · 95 weeks ago

It’s a gum the Army uses to seal the Navy into boats.
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moffattbooks· 95 weeks ago

I’m one of the soulless ones who works overnights in a grocery store. So I sleep when I get home for about 4 or 5 hours then take a nap before I go to work. Seems to be working after 15 years.
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Cori K · 95 weeks ago

I’ve started doing online crossword puzzles right before bed. When I want to sleep, I work on crossword puzzles. And over time, my brain has made the connection “puzzles=sleep.” It works almost every night now; I start playing, I get drowsy, set the laptop down, and fall asleep.

And those Tetris earrings are fantastic. I believe I will be acquiring some in the near future…

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thehappysmith· 95 weeks ago

When I worked nights and kept abnormal hours I usually took melatonin to help me sleep. Since it’s the hormone your body produces to make you sleepy, it’s reasonably “natural” and I did not find it habit-forming. Now that I keep normal hours I find I rarely need or want it and sleep fine; and some days I’d get home from work and was so tired that damn the sun I just fell asleep at once. It’s far less expensive than any prescription sleep med and you won’t half wake up and try to make coffee with salami or something like people do with ambien.
I also find that valerian root helps to quiet the incessant shouting in my head about all the things I haven’t done (today; in this lifetime; whichever). It’s also usually cheaper than melatonin; both of them are at the CVS or Walgreens. Valerian doesn’t really make me sleepy, it makes me less anxious. From what I hear that’s almost what normal people feel like, but I wouldn’t know. It smells like bad asiago cheese, though, so keep some listerine around.
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Candace · 95 weeks ago

I have trouble getting my brain to shut down long enough to get to sleep, and I don’t even work at home. I’ve always had trouble getting to sleep, but, once upon a time, once I got to sleep, I could sleep non-stop for twelve or more hours. No longer.

Several years ago I hurt my back, and could hardly sleep at all due to the pain, and even once it started to get better, and I was able to get to sleep more easily (or at least with no more trouble than I ever had), I was unable to stay asleep long enough to get a “good night’s sleep,” and would end up waking up every few hours. These days, my back problem is under control, but I never have recovered the ability to consistently sleep through the night (or day), without waking up frequently, and sometimes being unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours after I’ve woken up in the middle of the night.

I’ve tried valerian and chamomile to no avail (although chamomile has helped me with other problems.) Melatonin sometimes helps for 4-5 hours, but not long enough for a full night, and sometimes causes me to have odd dreams. Booze also sometimes helps for a few hours, but can be counter-productive once I metabolize the sugar in the alcohol, and end up being wide awake in the middle of the night. Red wine tends to be more effective than other types of alcohol, but isn’t foolproof.

So far, I have yet to find that “magic bullet” that will solve my insomnia problems. Luckily, my insomnia tends to run in cycles, so eventually, I will sleep. I just never know when, and, of course, I never seem to be able to sleep when I most need to.

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Khel · 95 weeks ago

I have to agree about the Melatonin, I get maybe four hours on it and all of them are filled with really weird dreams. I have to take it on my work weekend (fri 10:30pm to 6:30 AM then sat and sun 2:30 pm to 6:30 am) The good news is after 6:30 on monday I can pretty much sleep whenever I feel like it till the next weekend rolls around
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furrbear· 95 weeks ago

I’m not privy to the latest in combat pharmaceuticals, but I have heard that the military is really fond of Provigil (modafinil) because it’s a lot safer and vastly less likely to cause dependency problems than amphetamine. (There’s also the fact there’s some tantalizing evidence that it increases attention span instead of fracturing it.)

As for sleeping… something I find helpful for “Brain Chasing Its Own Tail Syndrome” is L-Theanine, the calmative amino acid naturally found in green tea. A friend of mine who was going through a great deal of stress described it as “nearly as effective as Xanax – and since I don’t have to worry about getting hooked, on balance it’s better”.

J’accuse!

I will be at Fan Expo Canada in Toronto this weekend with Blind Ferret and Randy Milholland of of Something*Positive. I will be at booth #844. More info HERE.

Sorry for the lack of comics last week. School starts for Kiddo next week, so last week I took my family on a road trip to San Antonio. Kiddo’s never really had a proper vacation, so spending some family time together before she’s only with us a few hours a day for 9 months was important. I brought the Surface Pro and managed to get one come and one Lofi done, but Sea World kicked my ass. The drive from San Antonio to Austin, a little rest, then the follow up drive back to Dallas wiped me out. The good news is I have 3 comics and 2 Lofi’s ready to go for this week. Please to enjoy the continuation of this storyline.

In the same way sports fans act like their choice of shirts, caps and foam fingers influence the outcome of the game, we geeks (many of whom ARE actually sports fans… weird…) do tend to internalize the stories, characters and fates of our favorite shows. Geekery is rarely a passive act. Our curse is that we typically seek an active roll in the outcome of events that we can’t actually hope to influence. To satiate this need to participate we often seek to expand the universes of the things we love into new directions, new activities and new sub-fandoms that we can actually have an effect on.

I firmly believe this need arrises from equal parts love and selfishness. Or perhaps I mean self-centeredness. Is there a way of saying that without sounding so negative, because I really don’t mean to. It’s that we love a thing so much, so hard that we NEED it to meet our unreasonably high expectations. We need it to be at least as smart as our own head-fiction in order to continue loving it as hard as we do. It’s sort of a vicious cycle. Still, the need to own something, to posses it, embody it and act as an emissary for it to others seems somewhat selfish. I guess my point is that the average Rizzoli and Isles fan doesn’t get too worked up over Rizzoli or Isles. They probably don’t work for weeks on their Isles costume so that it’s perfect for RizzIslCon. They probably don’t… who the hell am I kidding? Rizzoliheads are probably some of the biggest geeks in the world.

COMMENTERS: When have you felt you most “contributed” to your fandom of choice? Was it introducing a new fan, writing fan-fiction, cosplaying at a con, organizing a themed event, or just screaming at the screen until the producers listened to your grand vision?

ANOTHER THING! 

Check out these Tetris earrings my wife made! 

Tetris Earings!

 

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hijinksensue· 95 weeks ago

Who was it?
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meagankn · 95 weeks ago

TILDA SWINTON? That’s what you mean, right? Because I’d watch the shit out of that.
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Hotsauce · 95 weeks ago

I’d rather have minorites written ungracefully then have the current status quo of minorities being practically nonexistent.
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Bruceski · 95 weeks ago

When Terry Pratchett announced he had Alzheimer’s, I organized some folks here in Portland to fold and send a thousand origami turtles. Never heard back about that, I hope they arrived okay.
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David S. · 95 weeks ago

I have the exact opposite effect: any show I seem to get into gets cancelled, so I realized if i were ever to campaign to influence a show, I may just get it cancelled that much faster!

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Bruceski · 95 weeks ago

I constantly make the mistake of watching the first season of shows on NBC. Nothing gets a second season. That said, the reason is often because a lot of them are “neat idea for a miniseries, but you guys had no idea what to do with it for a whole season.” My Own Worst Enemy, for example. Guy has artificially-created multiple personalities to be a spy with an unbreakable cover, then they start flip-flopping when not supposed to? Clever idea, I can think of about six episodes’ worth of stuff before you run out.

The Scenic Route

School is just about to start back up for Kiddo, so I took my family on a vacation/road trip to Sea World this week. I drove from Dallas to Austin, then Austin to San Antonio and I can say unequivocally that driving through Texas like taking the scenic route through an inbred meth head’s nightmare. Every square inch of the state that isn’t a major metroplex is a terrifying decent into a rust, decay, poverty and racism… by which I mean “quaint.” Texas is an extraordinarily “quaint” game of connect the dots, where the dots are cities with more than a million people, and the lines are squalid shitholes full of miserable people from a time thankfully gone by. Also there’s usually really big truck stop. The kind that is also a grocery store and a chicken restaurant and a place to buy drugs and CB radio parts and parking lot sex from parking lot sex-ladies. QUAINT, I tell ya. Quaint as all get out.

Thanks to @nmrjess for inspiring the Dairy Queen bit.

COMMENTERS: What’s the most “quaint” place you’ve ever lived/been to? 

The 2013 DIGITAL FANCY SKETCH DRIVE is still going through the end of this week! Check out the details and order yours HERE.

MY WIFE KEEPS MAKING AWESOME STUFF! My wife has a super cool, ultra geeky jewelry shop on Etsy. You can see her Tetris necklace andt the just announced Harry Potter inspired Quidditch necklace. Check out dat Quaffle!  

quidditch necklace

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lebbrin· 96 weeks ago

Ector, TX (NE of Dallas) was the first town I saw when moving to Texas back in 1978. Population of 549 (Salute! Ok, kiddos, Google THAT reference) What a culture shock. My first job in High School there was hauling hay. They had a one building school that housed all 12 grades. Also, the nicest people you would ever meet. What a difference from big city indifference that I was used to.

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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thelogos · 96 weeks ago

I have made the trek from Dallas (Well, really, Stillwater, OK) to Houston. There are still “sunset” towns in Oklahoma, I kid you not. As in, “don’t let the sun set on you <non-WASP person> in this town. They were like vampire lairs, but creepier.
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Khel · 96 weeks ago

All of southeast Idaho… Between the meth, the mormons, the lack of any shopping centers other than the odd walmart… I’m getting depressed just thinking about it
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Stephen · 96 weeks ago

Accio nerd necklace! ACCIO NERD NECKLACE!!!!

The quiddich necklace would make a fantastic present for my sister. How much is she asking for them?

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

Click that link to her store and all will be revealed.
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Stephen · 96 weeks ago

Nevermind, I clicked the link. Would she be willing to take the top half of playstashun? Or perhaps a stump munchler/weed wangler combo? Maybe a rotary…. NO!!! THE PTERODACTYLS!!!
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Miles · 96 weeks ago

We road tripped from a small town in SOuthwest New Mexico (10,000 small) across the USA on the 10 Freeway… we now never want to drive though Texas that way again.

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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Bruceski · 96 weeks ago

Ah, NM small towns. I grew up in Los Alamos (drive to the middle of nowhere, turn left and drive another 30 minutes). If you like hiking and mesas it’s a beautiful place to live. If you like doing anything after 8PM other than heading into the mountains and getting drunk, good luck.

My brother crossed TX and OK on his way to college, he says it’s what Hell must look like. Endless flat with nothing to distract the eye.

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DetailBear· 96 weeks ago

In 2000, drove from the then boyfriend’s home in Augusta, GA (where “other side of the tracks” really means something) to Savannah (which was beautiful and genteel). On the small highway somewhere in between was a high-fence-and-barbed-wire surrounded compound containing a gun range, a camouflage store, and a “PRIVATE” club. The boyfriend said “and probably a white hood section around the back” and we just kept driving until the Savannah suburbs.
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Zee · 96 weeks ago

Gah. Whole point is moot. People should not go to Sea World anyway. Keeping incredibly intelligent five ton mammals, in enclosures that are usually the same size as you would keep half ton mammals, is fairly analogous to raising a child in a closet, and never letting it leave. They need to cut it out with the Shamus.
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Larry · 96 weeks ago

I spend a year living in Corpus Christi, my friends that where already living there told me it was beautiful on the Texas coast. once down there i soon discovered, that it is a flat one shade of dingy army green ( all plant life) and it smells like fish and ass when it rains! and it rains often.
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Dio · 95 weeks ago

If you like SeaWorld, you should see the new movie made about it- “Blackfish”!

1 reply · active 95 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 95 weeks ago

I know about it. The trainers arent allowed in the Orca tanks anymore because of the trainer that was killed. The orca currently in captivity can’t be released back into the wild, so Im not sure there’s an easy solution. It’s not a perfect situation.
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pete · 95 weeks ago

Just move to Shallotte, NC from Seattle, WA. It’s kinda like moving from your most wonderful dream to the most humid part of a donkey’s ass and then having people tell you it’s not so bad “cuz there’s a beach.”
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furrbear· 95 weeks ago

There are a few places on the road from LA to Sturgis, SD that make me nervous… and I’m a 6’2 big-bearded biker dude. I stopped for gas in a small Utah town (but along I-15, so not exactly isolated) once and the cashier was a skinhead with plainly visible white power tattoos, one of which was on the side of his neck. (And my parents always told me not to get tattoos or I’d never find work!) Not to mention that it seems like a huge fraction of the population of Wyoming are scary looking rednecks who drive mud-covered pickup trucks. [Redneck B.M.W. – Big Mud Wagon]

As someone who’s lived in Southern California for several decades – to be more specific, the Greater Los Angeles Metro Sprawl [yes, that’s right – the G.L.A.M.S.] – I don’t put up with much attitude from people who live places that are flat and boring. If I feel like it, I can go to the beach and a ski resort in the same day … and weather that makes them both pleasant is not exactly uncommon.

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Baskerville · 31 weeks ago

I ran into the most suspicious museum driving around in Texas. It claimed to have the greatest variety of rattlesnakes in the world. So obviously, I had to go in. There were indeed around 25 types of rattlesnake in the small suspicious building, as well as a man with four teeth who attempted to sell me a live tarantula.
A LIVE TARANTULA. IN SOME TUPPERWARE.

 

Pitching Puns

COMMENTERS: Please pitch your own Breaking Bad “sPUNoffs.” 

The 2013 DIGITAL FANCY SKETCH DRIVE is still going through the end of this week! Check out the details and order yours HERE.

MY WIFE KEEPS MAKING AWESOME STUFF! My wife has a super cool, ultra geeky jewelry shop on Etsy. You can see her Tetris necklace andt the just announced Harry Potter inspired Quidditch necklace. Check out dat Quaffle!  

quidditch necklace

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benthorp· 96 weeks ago

Surely the time is right for the Star Trek slash-fic rom-com – “Bonking Borg”?

Or perhaps, in these times of financial austerity, a look at life at the bottom of the financial ladder, where every loaf counts: “Banking Bread”?

Or a remake of the Monkees, charting life as an up and coming music group – “Breaking Band”?

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psuedoname · 96 weeks ago

Brad Pitt goes on a series of rollercoasters after a big meal – Barfing Brad
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Weaselspoon · 96 weeks ago

An evil genius has hoisted an entire German spa town onto wheels and it is rapidly accelerating towards the Swiss. To prevent the outbreak of war, our hero is going to have to do all he can to stop it. Coming this fall: Braking Baden-Baden
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Giffy · 96 weeks ago

There’s a bloody war among the rams and ewes, and finally, through all the turmoil, out arises the new monarch: Great King Baa.
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James · 96 weeks ago

An 80 year old grandmother, is forced to reexamine her life when her entire small town gets dysentery … there’s only one way she knows to stop the impending shit storm. This fall, granny’s got the cure: Baking Bran
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DeadRobot · 96 weeks ago

Van Helsing comes to America to discover a massive vampire colony in LA. Catch “Staking Vlad” next on Fox!
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mokatz · 96 weeks ago

The Swedish Chef: Borking Bork. (Bork!)
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Nathan deGargoyle · 96 weeks ago

Will Shakespear’s new cookery show – Baking Bard.
I’ll get me coat – Taxi!
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Benjamin Mansfield · 96 weeks ago

A trendy new trend breaks out this fall as trees begin to drop their leaves. Make sure to tune into Raking Fad.
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Benjamin Mansfield · 96 weeks ago

Winter is coming!! Tune into HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff throwback to the founders of House Stark – Brrr!! Aching Back!!
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Mcecny · 96 weeks ago

Cesar Millans new reality show on training attack dogs – Barking Mad!
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tzeentchling· 96 weeks ago

Sesame Street has fallen on hard times. To get by, Big Bird has to take up a hard hat and join the local construction company. Bricking Bird!
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Gemma · 94 weeks ago

Nice necklace. It should go really well with my new breaking bad shirt.
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Daemnor · 26 weeks ago

“Bunking Bald”

<chortle>

Passive. Aggressive.

The HijiNKS ENSUE Store is all new looking and such, and all ladies shirts are $5 off! 

 I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me. It’s hard not to take it personally when you have such a specific plan for your favorite geeky movie or show and it seems like Hollywood or the BBC or the Universe in general just isn’t paying attention to that plan. It’s even worse when you find out how close the Universe’s plan was to your own. It’s worse when you find out out you could have had it all. 

COMMENTERS: When I was a kid we were rarely privy to information such as casting rumors. Hell, we were rarely privy to information at all by today’s standards. What ill-fated casting rumor did you most hope was true? What geeky movie or show suffered from the worst casting? The best? 

The 2013 DIGITAL FANCY SKETCH DRIVE is still going through the end of next week! Check out the details and order yours HERE.

MY WIFE KEEPS MAKING AWESOME STUFF! My wife has also started making super cool, ultra geeky jewelry on Etsy. You can see her Tetris necklace and more geeky creations in her shop, but she just announced her Harry Potter inspired Quidditch necklace. Check out dat Quaffle!  

quidditch necklace

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benthorp· 96 weeks ago

He’s riffing on the “Let go and let God” slogan.
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Bruceski · 96 weeks ago

“Ain’t no law that says a dog can’t be a timelord.” — Air Bud 12, as told by Rifftrax Live.
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TheWatcher · 96 weeks ago

Isn’t “rooting for a black doctor” just as bad as rooting for a white doctor?

Can’t we just hope that part is cast well, regardless of skin colour?

16 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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TheWatcher · 96 weeks ago

Irrelevant. Just because there hasn’t yet been one does not make having one preferable *if* there is someone better for the part.
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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

Breaking racial barriers is important whether its in sports, politics or entertainment. Also the “if there’s someone better for the job” is an old argument that’s been used by “I’m not racist, but I’m just sayin’l racists for years.
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MichaelH · 96 weeks ago

It’s still odd everyone wanting a black or female doctor to be written by a white male. Shouldn’t we be wishing for the next showrunner/head writer to be the black/female (or both) who would in turn produce the diversity needed? It worked with the previous gay showrunner who opened the door to Doctor Who happily including characters of any sexuality desired.

While it’s nice Moffat has entertained widening the role, it’s also good that in the end he’s choosing to write the Doctor he knows rather than trying to force a new aspect of the Doctor just for the sake of it.

And the next showrunner is possibly the (respectful) campaign to wage now. After all, Davies was getting ready to leave and we didn’t even know it by about now!

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UnderTheDark · 96 weeks ago

You know what, you make a fantastic point. I would be SO much more excited to hear about a new, non-misogynistic/”color-blind” show runner… if you think that women and minorities are under-represented IN FRONT of the camera, well Mississippi-godDAMN take a look behind!
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TheWatcher · 96 weeks ago

I would be nice to see a black doctor, but saying I’m “rooting” for it seems to me to be going to far…

I really hope the show-runners are colour-blind both ways when casting. I’m sure that they have a vision of what the doctor should be and frankly I’d be disgusted if that vision includes a race. (And in fact, we know it doesn’t. Since a black man has been offered the part before.)

If a white guy got the job over a black guy because they think he’ll be a better doctor – that better fits how they want to develop the character – so be it. The same goes for age, sex – whatever.

“Also the “if there’s someone better for the job” is an old argument that’s been used by “I’m not racist, but I’m just sayin’l racists for years.”

It’s funny, because I’m black. (Well, my mother is anyway.) But come on. Attack my argument, fair enough. But don’t use it as an excuse to lump me in with those assholes.

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TheWatcher · 96 weeks ago

I mean if you were just rooting for Chiwetel Ejiofor, I could understand it more. Chiwetel Ejiofor is fucking awesome.
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thevoxpopuli· 96 weeks ago

It’s not just that they’re black, I think Cheesewheel and Idris would both be friggin awesome at the gig. But it’s not about wanting “Black” or “white” it’s about wanting “different”. Asian, woman or ginger would be cool too. though not an asian woman ginger. That might be weird.
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thevoxpopuli· 96 weeks ago

Does she have a British accent? Gender, race and folcile-bending I’ll wholeheartedly endorse, but I’ll not have my doctors be other than British.
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Hotsauce · 96 weeks ago

As I said on the last comic, there is no one “best actor” for any role. Acting is pretty much the only profession where a black woman who nailed her audition for the Power Rangers can be told she didn’t get the role because “we already have a black actor”. So it’s naive to the border of incredulity to say “color doesn’t matter as long as it’s the best actor” whenever “someone who isn’t white” is mentioned as a casting possibility.
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Bill Murphy · 96 weeks ago

Dukes of Hazard.
When Coy and Vance joined the show. No, at least they were acknowledged to not be Bo and Luke. But C’MON!
Love the word Alcoholabetes by the way. 😉
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Ron · 96 weeks ago

I was dreading Heath Ledger as the Joker. All I could picture was Ten Things I Hate about you. It was going to be horrible. Then I watched it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Since then I don’t judge who gets cast for whatever role.

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

I had never seen his previous works, but I was similarly skeptical. Holy shit was I wrong.
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Paul · 96 weeks ago

Used to love the show Sliders, especially with the original cast. I was not the least bit perturbed when they replaced Sabrina Lloyd as the token female/love interest with Kari Wuhrer. I was, however, a bit annoyed when they replace Jerry O’Connell with his lesser brother, Charlie. The dynamic was completely obliterated and the show lost a lot of something, including me as a viewer after a few episodes.

4 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

I caught a really late in the series episode one night about a month ago and the entire cast has been replaced (more than once over) and only Rembrandt was left. Charlie O’ wasn’t even there. It was some other random dude who apparently was a shitty clone of Quinn or something.
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gabepuratekuta· 96 weeks ago

That was the last season when Jerry focused on directing. The finale was anticlimactic, too
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gabepuratekuta· 96 weeks ago

I suggest you watch the finale to find out
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sarahindie· 96 weeks ago

Richard Ayoade. Would have been brilliant. So much of a long shot that it was fun to think about. But Neil Gaiman says that he knows a black actor who was offered the Doctor and turned it down.

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

That would have been bananapants awesome.
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DuckAmuck · 96 weeks ago

I just want a maple bacon vodka pancake batter smoothie.
It seems everything would be fine if I had one of those…

What if I went crazy and made PANCAKES out of it! Oh, the awesomeness…

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

So, being that you have free will, i suggest you start collecting ingredients.
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Zach · 96 weeks ago

I don’t know who decided Topher Grace should be Venom, but they deserve nothing less than being thrown in Sarlacc’s pit.

4 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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Canadian Spider-Man · 96 weeks ago

Topher Grace should have been Peter Parker. Tobey McGuire was completely miscast. During That 70s Show, I swore he would make the PERFECT Peter, and then the Spider-Man movies happened, and Tobey was an emotionless robot. And then they finally get Topher, but he’s Eddie Brock..
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Bruceski · 96 weeks ago

When I went to see Gatsby my main comment was “how come when Tobey Maguire is shy and awkward it’s painful, but when DiCaprio does the same kind of thing it’s endearing?” The answer of course is “because one of them’s a good actor.”
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moffattbooks· 96 weeks ago

I think it was definitely different back in the day before the Internet…we would just watch the show, take what we got and either kept watching or stopped.

I remember reading about Lucas’s 9 Star Wars plan, being all excited and then wondering if we were ever going to get Episodes I-III.

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HikingViking · 96 weeks ago

I think the best fantasy movie casting I’ve ever really noticed was Julie Walters being cast as Molly Weasley. After watching her play Mrs. Wilkinson, I couldn’t imagine a better actress to play someone so fiercely protective and maternal. But honestly, I think her acting chops (along with many of the actors and actresses in the franchise) had their talents wasted – or at least not utilized to the fullest. Alan Rickman being a very notable exception. At the other end of the spectrum, the worst casting ever was Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt being cast in Interview With the Vampire.

3 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

That whole series is full of just sublime casting choices. Hagrid, Snape, pretty much all of the teachers… just fantastic.
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Stonemaven · 96 weeks ago

Re Interview:
I read the book as a kid and always pictured Sting (circa Dune) as Louis and Rutger Hauer (circa Ladyhawk) as Lestat and maybe Mathew Broderick as Armand. If it had been made into a movie back then at the time, it would have been perfect. I was horrified when Pitt and Cruise were announced even though my ideal actors were too old by that time.
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Liam · 96 weeks ago

I had heard that Patrick Stewart was rumored to play Mr. Freeze in ‘Batman and Robin’. I was hoping that it was him instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

4 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

in retrospect, arent you glad it wasnt him?
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Liam · 96 weeks ago

Considering how “Batman and Robin” turned out yes I’m glad but at the time I was disappointed because I think Patrick Stewart could be a good Mr. Freeze.
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Siirenias · 96 weeks ago

Just imagining it is giving me waking nightmares. I must wash Batman and Robin from my mind.
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bucketofarrows · 96 weeks ago

Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake. He even said he wanted the role. When I heard it was Wahlberg and the weird direction they were going I died a little inside and then felt relieved when the whole thing got scrapped.

HikingViking, another exception was Maggie Smith I thought.

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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Ali · 96 weeks ago

I was hoping for David Tennant as Thranduil, honestly, back in like 2010 when Hobbit casting rumors were first floating around. And I was pleased by the Nimoy as Smaug casting rumor, but far more pleased by the reality of Cumbersmaug.
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groklife · 96 weeks ago

Late 80’s/early 90’s: I was so ready for Pierce Brosnan to be Agent 007.
Instead, we got Timothy Dalton. Nothing wrong with Timothy Dalton, but HE WASN’T Pierce Brosnan!

Of course, then I got Pierce Brosnan. Be careful what you wish for. I thought he was crap in his four Bond movies.

Daniel Craig is fantastic, imho.

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Hotsauce · 96 weeks ago

In the early 90s, rumor had it that Robert DeNiro was being cast as Wolverine. I could not and can not imagine it.
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Liam · 96 weeks ago

Here is a good one. Nicolas Cage as Superman.
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Siirenias · 96 weeks ago

Mr. T is still alive. That recent A-Team movie should have had him as Mr. T! I don’t care if he has aged; it should have been.

I don’t really know enough to figure out how to get in on the casting rumor mill, though.

2 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

He has NOT aged. He is ageless.
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The Unknown FB · 96 weeks ago

Enough of your jibber-jabber…Mr. T is a closeted Time Lord!
He pities those who fool with his TARDIS!
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Tony · 96 weeks ago

There was a rumor that Christopher Eccleston was going to find his way into Game of Thrones (I want to say as Balon Greyjoy, but I could be mistaken), and this was right after my second time watching his run as the Doctor (you know, the time after you’ve seen the Tennant years and the beginning of Smith’s run, and you’re rewatching everything and you realize how much more brilliant Eccleston’s Doctor was than you initially gave him credit for), and I was excited to see him doing anything, but especially something as cocainesque as Game of Thrones. Sure, even he probably couldn’t have saved Balon Greyjoy from the massively petty stupid that Georgr R. R. Martin originally imbued the character with (seriously, what the fuck is the point of invading the North when the Lannisters probably can’t afford to thoroughly defend the wealthiest castles in the country from the sea because two of the people that want to claim their Iron Throne are like two days’ sail from attacking the capital?), but it doesn’t change the fact that I would really love to see Mr. Eccleston on screen again in something I’m going to watch…

2 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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njmckay· 96 weeks ago

Eccleston is fantastic! It would have been awesome to see him in Game of Thrones! But he will be in Thor 2! So don’t give up on him.
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Kirby · 96 weeks ago

People really don’t give Eccleston’s doctor enough credit. Of the three, “modern” doctors he’s probably my favorite.

I was squeeing my little fanboy brain out when I heard that Matt Smith wanted to do a crossover between them. <3 I so so very very disappointed that it never happened. *crosses fingers* Another 5 doctors, another five doctors

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Bubbalouey · 96 weeks ago

Erm… Didn’t you only just start watching doctor who last year?

2 replies · active 96 weeks ago

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lou · 96 weeks ago

I think he’s been mainlining old episodes in between seasons.
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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

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Canadian Spider-Man · 96 weeks ago

I was hoping for an older man to play the Doctor. Skin color didn’t matter. I got what I wanted!
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hijinksensue· 96 weeks ago

1 reply · active 96 weeks ago

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Bruceski · 96 weeks ago

Now I’m imagining Bill Nye as The Doctor. Someone would ask “how are the Daleks doing this” and he’d get halfway through an explanation full of props and sound effects before they got killed because they forgot to run.
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meagankn · 96 weeks ago

THAT NECKLACE! GIVE IT TO ME FOR TO PUT ON MY NECKLACE PLACE! I’m throwing all my dollars in a vaguely Southeastern direction which means, given a good head wind, they should reach you from Seattle in about a week. Then necklace, please? Yes. Thanks. `
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njmckay· 96 weeks ago

I think i remember hearing Coin Firth wanting to be a villain in Doctor Who. I could be mistaken here but he said something that he wanted to play a bad guy.

As for the new casting of the Doctor, I’m excited that they’ve gone back to a mature actor, I saw some of Tom Baker’s Doctor and he was brilliant in that! But I get that people want something different, i myself am tired of the love struck companions and would love to see an alien companion for a change.

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Bruceski · 96 weeks ago

When I was a kid I think every year we had a new rumor about an Ender’s Game movie with various people in various roles. This was back when the internet was AOL and I didn’t have political awareness, so it was possible to actually enjoy an Orson Scott Card book without feeling slimy.
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Kirby · 96 weeks ago

Green Lantern’s hasn’t been brought up in here? Interesting.

I like Ryan Reynolds. He might not be in a lot of the best movies, but I don’t think he was right for… well, any of the human lanterns I can think of off the top of my head. At least he should have been a -funny- character. Flash, for example.

It’s kind of like having a movie with Bane and casting a muscle bound hulk as Mr. Freeze instead.

You all know what I’m talking about.

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Chaucer59 · 95 weeks ago

Some of Enterprise was excellent. As long as they were just filling in back story, it was fine. Where they went to hell was in adding whole empires of aliens we’d never seen in Star Trek. That just stretched hell out of audience credulity.

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