...And the home of the free

Next Week on Bros Watch Forever:

Season one of BSG draws to a close.

One rather poorly executed episode was not nearly enough to keep me from losing my shit at the end of this week's regimen. Shit's starting to get crazy/good. More from Alex soon. Links in the comments.

When playing poker, I always find it harder to play against dumb players because I can never predict what they do.

Comic Review: Batman and Robin #1-2

"Batman is dead.* Robin is now Batman and Batman's evil son is now Robin. Everything is new again."

This is how writer Grant Morrison answered when asked how he would sell the new comic Batman and Robin to non-Batman readers.  The title's a success on many levels, not the least being that despite the seventy years of history bearing down on the characters, this is really all incoming readers need to know.

For the last few years, Morrison has been mining the more outlandish areas of Batman’s history. In particular, he's sought out ways to make the kid-friendly, day-glo stories of the fifties and sixties cohere with the
approach taken by writers after Frank Miller’s Dark Knight. When talking about Batman and Robin, he has a tendency to name-drop the '60s TV series and David Lynch in the same sentence. The first issues feature new-Batman-old-Robin Dick Grayson and hyperviolent ten year-old Damian Wayne confront a new group of villains who are equal parts Wind in the Willows and Brazil. It's a conscious pop pastiche, and fun, inventive genre storytelling.

Frank Quitely is Morrison's illustrator here, as in earlier collaborations like an early-2000s stint on X-Men and the near-perfect All-Star Superman. Quitely's a master draftsperson, and a true original. Where other artists’ lines would be straight, Quitely’s have minute ripples--his figures and objects are expertly composed but unreal, unstable.  His characters designs, similarly, are funhouse mirror takes on old standards--cartoon grotesqueries with convincing density and weight. Issue two is worth checking out for Quitely's handling of a fight sequence alone. It's rhythmic, humorous and totally distinct.

* Mild spoiler: Bruce Wayne isn't really dead, he's trapped in time, which Morrison made an open secret for readers at the end of almost-end-of-the-universe comic Final Crisis.

BUT DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT--!

Issue 1
Issue 2
BONUS: All-Star Superman #5, maybe the best example of what it is Morrison and Quitely do so well

I wanted to do Hoodrat stuff with my friends

-Special Thanks to Ellen Sciuto for the find.

No. 5?

Karl Malden, Everyman Actor. Dead at 97.

Even people we don't know but were famous are dying!

Try Asking A YouTube Video

Dear CONTEST + Demo: Cheap at Home Tanning Youtube Video,

I recently married into a prevalent southern family, however; I retained my own last name. He is very supportive, and his parents have not actually voiced any argument. The issue is their friends and other family members who are shocked and horrified that I would be so tacky and offensive as to not take his name. They ignore my polite requests that I be addressed both professionally and personally by my real name. The passive aggressiveness of this southern community I have moved into astounds me. Some of them claim "it's too confusing to know how to address you".

My husband backs me up, but he's never around when it happens. I do not wish to embarrass myself or my new family by being rude to these people, but I'm at the end of my rope. Being called the wrong name and receiving mail addressed to Mrs. His Last Name is like a slap in the face to me, especially when coming from people who know what my name is. Advice??
Thank you for your consideration.

-Musty in Monroe

Dear MiM,

I'm like a ghost. Thank you soooo much for this video. I'm paler than pale but I can't be bothered to tan, fake or otherwise. Yay for probably being the palest person on the beach, smothered in suncream! But, This one gave me some faith that I could be a little bit tan as well. I'm a total irish girl, and even though I'm only 23, I was diagnosed with a pretty severe form of sun related skin cancer, and I just don't really mess around with tanning anymore. Only problem is I'm moving from Indiana to Florida, like tomorrow! wooo irish!!

I know that in New Zealand tanning beds are not really common, agreed its not "our generation" it's more our parents and grandparents. Most people here and in Australia are the ones who were brought up covered in the zinc and really aware of the effects of the sun and tanning beds. another way to prevent your feet from getting stained is to stand on an old towel, it absorbs the excess mist so it doesn't pool arounf your feet. Do you know How much of the product fades away (if any) after you get out of the shower or wash your face?

what's your email?

Where the hell was Goofy?

Of everything I could possibly do in my life, this is very low on the list.



Who is more desperate here, John or Erika?

SUMMER JAMS

Summer jams. Everybody's got one!* I think mine is "I Got A Lot (New New New)" by Mika Miko. Is there a song yet you're gonna think back to when you think of summer '09?



* You don't actually have to have one if you don't want to. It should be a choice.

Who is Next!?

Who is Next To Die?
And What Have We Done To Deserve This?