Who Needs Medieval Times When You Can Hire Robin Hood?

Tim Pollard, a former Games Workshop employee no less, performs Robin Hood banquets regularly in locations across the UK. From time to time he has even performed in the United States. You can read about the adventures of the travelling "official Robin Hood of Nottingham" at his own blog, or you can watch a slideshow of him firebreating here.

Who knew that Robin Hood was a firebreather? And Maid Marion kisses that mouth?

California Military Residents Acquire New Benefits in 2006

When a person who is in the National Guard or in the Reserves is called up for active duty in a conflict, as is happening today, it can often lead to financial burdens back at home. Family members of the soldier often have to manage household affairs on a diminished budget as the soldier's pay shifts from that of a private sector job to that of a member of the military. The State of California, and the Federal Government, already have a number of laws to help families of servicemen and women, but the State of Califoria voted to expand the benefits offered. In September 2005, Assembly Bill 1666 (Frommer) passed and starting in January this law will:

provide protections for these persons in connection with their military service with respect to recording fees for a power of attorney, termination of a mobile telephony services contract, military leave of absence from specified educational institutions, waiver of attorney membership fees, payment of arrearages under terminated motor vehicle leases, and continuation of gas and utility services, as provided. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

The bill was passed with heavy bi-partisan support.

Gretsky Returns to Phoenix After Mother's Death

Wayne Gretsky, coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, has returned and will be coaching the Coyotes tonight. Gretsky had taken some time off to spend with his mother, who was suffering from lung cancer. Gretsky's mother died on December 19th.

It seems that two of the all-time great hockey players are having less than wonderful 2005s. Mario Lemieux, who has come back from serious illnesses in his career, has missed games this year due to an irregular heartbeat.

I Consider Myself a Shatner Devotee, but...

I can't believe I missed this.

The one-and-only William Shatner stars as The Storyteller in this rousing, campy series. Each episode tells a suspenseful story from an exciting time or place, filled with interesting characters, plenty of action, and surprising twists. All 15 episodes are included here, including "A Crack in Time," about a telepathic girl from the year 2098 who finds herself stranded in 20th century America, and "The Pirate," which tells the chilling tale of three vacationing children who stumble onto hidden treasure--and the sinister seafaring ghost that haunts it.

I will own this! I will have this! It shall be mine! That is my New Year's resolution!

After all, if I can enjoy all the Tek War books, and I do, this should be awesome!

Seriously, has anyone seen this? What channel was it on? What is the backstory?

I need information!

Teen Titans: Titans of Tomorrow

Quick note on this one, though it ties into my big review series thingie, and at the end, to boot.

Basically, the Titans and Legion of Super Heroes wind up fighting, among other poeple, 100 dudes with an axe so dang sharp it can cut through time and space. Despite this, no one dies in the fight.

So, was he hitting them with the handle, or what?

DC Comics and Me (Part I, Spoilers)

Well, got some trade paperbacks for Christmas from Julie, as in response to a wistful comment that I'd really pretty much lost track of DC Continuity years back.

Basically, I had what is apparently a fairly classic scenario for giving up on comic collecting... It got too expensive. Though Julie and I loved comics, our good intentions were broken by Our Worlds At War in particular, as it cost far too much money to collect, and by the way had little concrete happen as a result. It's fading in my mind, but it was hard that, after all of the hype and brutal reflections on war, you ended up with not much change. I mean, Lois' dad who was pretty darn new, died. Wee. Also Sarge Steel, acting rather out of character. Oh, and Strange Visitor. All of the stuff about enhancing her powers? Eh, forget it. Sucked.

Oh, and Aquaman, of course. You knew that would stick.

Anyway, that and the fact that in regular continuity Superman was visiting versions of Krypton that has been transformed by consensus reality into happy places and working on mastering his psychic powers while Green Lantern bummed around in his apartment, had oh-so-modern reflections on whether or not to marry his live-in, and explored tolerance issues with his gay sidekick instead of protecting the universe as the last living Green Lantern...

I kinda threw my hands up and gave up. I mean, it wasn't any of those things in particular... Superman getting psionic powers seems inevitable, the Big Monster of the Year crossover (which OWAW was the last one of for quite some time) often didn't change much permanently and I wouldn't've minded GL's expanding social conciousness and dating angst that much (though, maybe, a few less issues basically devoted entirely to them would've been nice) but, all of those things combined with an ever-ballooning price tag... Made me give up.

Oh, so anyway. That's part one. I have to work a bit... more on this tomorrow, I think.

Just in Time for My Birthday...well almost.

Coming soon to DVD...



The Flash! will be released on January 10th, two days late for my birthday. I was a fan of this show when it came out, and while I fully expect to find it doesn't live up to the rose-colored lenses of youth, I will be picking this big daddy up. I always thought the show had a chance, and that it was the fact that you never knew what day of the week the show would be on that killed The Flash! Then again it could have been that the show was so low budget that David Cassidy was in an episode as "The Master." A name that probably irked Dr. Who fans, but was a reference to Mirror Master in the comics.

Oh, and Season 2 of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman will be out on the 17th. This means that we are approaching the dreaded Season 3, to be followed by the underrated Season 4.