You know, you really would not believe how many action figures I've purchased this week. Or maybe you would if you knew that I had a $5 off coupon (off of a purchase of at least $25) for KB Toys and that a local comic shop has an annual Easter sale during which action figures are 50% off -- even though a good chunk of the toys weren't included in either bonus. But with the exception of Orion today, all were discounted (ranging from $3.20 to $7.50), so take heart that I didn't run myself too far into debt.

Speaking of which, I did my taxes on a whim the other day. They're arguably depressing given that I didn't make too much money this year -- far less than I made in 2006, though I think I endured far less work-related headaches in 2007 so consider that my health care payment -- but that meant that I owed the government next to nothing. In fact, given that I made an optimistic estimated payment back when I did my taxes last year, they're giving me money back. Which kinda makes me feel good, since I don't feel like I'm financing this pointless war in Iraq and contributing much in the way of finances to the bombing of innocents and the needless disruption of people's lives on all sides. And the government will supposedly be sending me money as part of this economic stimulus thingy! I'm taking away from the war effort! I'm a crusader for peace, baby.

By the way, for those of you who may or may not have been wondering why I haven't posted too much during the past couple of months, here is the reason that I've been so preoccupied.

More on that later (though if you read the Scary-Crayon blog, you already know about The Gorilla Grodd Project), but yep. 🙂

What is up with me receiving upwards of 100 e-mails per day that try to sell me on products to "turn my trouser mouse into a monster?" Luckily the spam filter catches most of it, but still -- it's bloody ridiculous. Case in point:

from: Eliah Lillenes <eliah [email protected]>
to: [email protected],
date: Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 3:12 PM
subject: Develop exceptional length and girth

Lynn moaned in pleasure and cried that the feeling of my longer, thicker tool in her felt amazing.

http://www.lokivae.com/
Develop exceptional length and girth

Is that narrative excerpt really supposed to sell me on the product? Are men so obsessed with increasing the length and girth of their junk that they welcome these deluges of augmenting solicitations? On the one hand I guess that people are annoyed by the spam -- hence the creation of spam filters -- but on the other I think that if a significant number of guys weren't actually biting companies wouldn't keep sending out these messages ad nauseam. And that's kinda sad and gross and pathetic.

I'm not sure whether I'm drooling all over my pillow and then flipping over or what, but I had another dream last night in which I got shot in the head and spent the remainder of the dream bleeding profusely. When it began, I was traveling through a desert with a stranger in search of shelter. Eventually we came upon a gated military installation of sorts, but they refused to let us in... so my loyal companion deduced that they'd have to let us in if one of us were wounded and promptly fired a shot into the back of my skull. I blacked out.

I awoke within the installation, bleeding profusely as an emaciated man straddled me and with his hands pressed against my forehead (the exit wound, apparently) and the base of my skull to stem the flow of blood. Then, suddenly, I found myself sitting at home watching TV -- but still bleeding extensively from the head. The events of the dream were fairly normal from that point onward. I checked my e-mail and did some browsing on the computer, went to Toys 'R' Us in search of some DC Universe Classics figures, and so forth. Except all the while I continued to bleed from the head in two directions and wonder when I would finally die from the blood loss. Yep.

And then, when I finally woke up and returned to sleep, I had some odd dream involving Catherine Keener and Tom Hanks telephoning each other and showering in the woods and hitchhiking in the rain.

My subconscious is very, very strange.

How 'bout these Democratic primaries, eh? I'm not sure just how much I want to write here -- this could easily turn into a novel-length entry if I don't keep myself in check -- but I've been wanting to share my thoughts on the race for some time now. And it just so happens that Geraldine Ferraro's recent comments have given me a perfect occasion to do so!

According to Ferraro, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is." In another interview, in which she discussed this response, Ferraro affirmed that she responded "in large measure, because he is black" when asked why Obama is where he is today. And now, rightfully so, in my opinion, she is taking a lot of heat for these remarks. But whereas Ferraro seems to think that she's being attacked because of her own skin color, I submit that people's response largely stems from the obvious ignorance of her comments -- whether they fully realize it or not.

Now, I admit that Barack Obama's skin color has played a role in his success this far. In fact, in the beginning, I didn't even like Obama all that much because he was clearly being used as the Democrats' token black. Every time I looked, he was being paraded out to give the same speech about how he came from mixed parentage and how that symbolizes the promise of America and blah-de-blah blah -- it basically amounted to, "My mom was white, my dad was Black, ergo America is wonderful." I wondered if he was capable of talking about anything else. People have accused Obama's more recent speeches on hope and change of lacking substance (I disagree), but these speeches are overflowing with depth and meaning when compared to his old rhetoric.

So certainly Obama's skin color aided his rise within the Democratic party, if only because the Democrats were so eager to use him to better appeal to the people and further their own agenda. And it probably factors into the reasons that people support him, though I would hardly state that it is the only or even primary reason -- or that, if the color of his skin were different, people would not feel so strongly about him. Rather, I think that the primary reasons that people are behind Obama are because he a) is an eloquent and inspiring speaker, b) is running an excellent campaign, c) appears cool and downright presidential in his debate performances, and d) successfully presents himself as being uniquely poised to bring about some much-needed positive change in this country. There are, of course, other important reasons regarding Obama's platform (which albeit is not that different from Hillary Clinton's), but still. Does Ferraro mean to suggest that people would vote for Obama even he were a poor and rambling speaker, seemed thoroughly uninformed, unkempt, and unfit to lead in his public appearances, and had been thoroughly defeated by Clinton in each of their debates -- simply because of his skin color? Please. (more...)

As noted in A Crayon Haiku #74 and the attendant Scary-Crayon blog entry, I really, really would like to stop watching this awful show. But I can't. And why not? Because Allison Mack is just too cute. Argh.

I was about to draw a parallel between my viewing of "Smallville" and many women watching "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- despite both programs being undeniably terrible and headache-inducing -- but I don't think it's a proper comparison. True, women swoon over Oprah, but I don't think they're doing it in quite the same way. Unless, of course, they are.

Ick.

And with that brilliant segue into disgusting subject matter comes our other news -- which I suppose isn't really news if you've been keeping up with Scary-Crayon. The good folks at Basic Fun stumbled upon my review of the Series 1 Madballs and were kind enough to hook me up with an advance set of the Series 2 'balls! (Thanks again, y'all! ) So here's the review of those! I love Madballs even more than Allison Mack.

I was about to suggest perhaps combining Miss Mack and Madballs into an even greater entity, but somehow I don't think that would work very well.