The Brave and the Bold on the Cartoon Network may just be the best Batman cartoon ever. I love Batman Beyond, but it's always better to have Bruce Wayne under the cowl (hint, hint, DC).

In these new cartoons, Batman is simultaneously courageous, serious, and nearly omnipotent but still quite human. His guest stars, a who's who of mostly obscure DC Universe heroes and villains (Bwana Beast? Gentleman Ghost? Guy Gardner? Kiteman? Kick ass!), often steal the show without detracting from Batman's presence.

There's nothing new about The Brave and the Bold. If you were reading comic books before Crisis on Infinite Earths, it'll all seem pretty familiar. (That panel above where Batman and Flash have defeated Dr. Double X and the Rainbow Raider is from The Brave and the Bold #194, published over 25 years ago in 1983!) Several of the episodes have been lifts from previous comic stories, some even from The Brave and the Bold comic itself. But in a modern world in which every story has to threaten the end of humanity opposed by bickering, fallible heroes, it's refreshing to return to a more optimistic point-of-view in which the heroes always win, even if they sometimes need a little help from their friends.

I'm actually quite pleased that in the modern age, where DC's focus is frequently selling sensational stories to a populace demanding death on an epic scale, there are enough people in the business who remember that super heroes used to dress in bright costumes and dole out terrible puns as they overcame Goldbergian death-traps in order to catch common jewel thieves. All to provide readers with some simple, 4-color escapist fantasy for 22 pages. Realism? No. Fun? Yes.

If even Batman can crack an occasional smile, maybe there's still hope that DC comics can survive this modern ("DiDio") era without sacrificing too much of it's colorful classic roster to the bloodlust of it's current editorial staff.

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I just played the most recent version of Milton Bradley's Life board game, and I was a little disappointed about how, despite it's recent "updating," it was still so unaligned with anything resembling my life. So I present the Game of Wriphe (your mileage may vary):

No, there are no Payday spaces. I don't even know what that word means anymore.

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While doing some work in front of the television, I watched Match Game 75 on the Game Show Network. A little old lady played for two rounds wherein she gave some of the worst answers ever. Originally, I had planned to just list them here. Instead, I've embedded them in the following game simulation. The contestant got zero correct in the episode. See if you can't do better. (My apologies to Joyce Bulifant. I gave her the answers that the idiot contestant gave to make the game more playable. In this episode, for a change, Joyce gave reasonable answers.)

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Today I celebrate the second annual Batman and Football Month with something that has nothing to do with Batman or Football! (It's exactly this sort of misdirection that both Batman and Football Offenses thrive on!)

I'll be unable to blog for the next week or so (busy, busy!), so let the following digital toy amuse you until I've had a chance to attend to the situation. Two notes:

1. The squares at the top, left, and bottom of the screen are buttons. Press them to turn them on/off. They do various things. For example, the one furthest down on the left is the reset button. You're smart; you can figure out the rest.
2. By holding the mouse down, you can drag the individual squares to new locations to change the design for your own pleasure.

Now go, play with yourself. I'm pretty sure you'll have fun.

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Late night television is NOT a cure for insomnia. On nearly 100 channels all I can ever find are commercials for Too-Fun-To-Be-Work work-out machines or May-Cause-Intestinal-Bleeding pills to improve my love life. (Unless there are "instant girl" pills -- Just add water! -- I don't think they'll help that much.) On the remaining channels are advertisements for exhibitionist teenaged girls and special interest diet plans. Of the few channels that actually show programming, most only show the really crappy syndicated shows such as Elimidate and Three's Company or low-budget news. I think that some network could really improve its ratings by simply broadcasting a few hours of sheep jumping over a fence accompanied by some soothing classical sonatas.

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Sigh. There was more to this damn blog until earlier today, when I wasted it. I'll try to recover it later. (I think I have a backup around here somewhere.)
All the updates I attempted for the .swf files -- you know, finally fixing the links, bio, etc. -- failed miserably this afternoon. Why? I have no idea. I do know that my attempted ''fixes'' only made shit worse, so I've returned to my backup files to restore to the old files.
Now I say ''Fuck you, Flash,'' and I walk away. I'll go play some video game where I get to kill people. Lots of people. That will make me feel better: killing. It's the American Way.

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Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an article about a contest between dog groomers, er, "pet stylists" in downtown Atlanta this weekend. The goal of the contest was apparently to dress a dog up like some cheap Party City Halloween costume. To no one's great surprise, most, if not all, of the dogs in the contest were standard poodles. (One was painted to look like Paul Stanley, which I would think both the poodle and Stanley would take as an insult.) As much as I enjoy grooming Chere, I wouldn't dress her up like a tramp for a chance at a $500 prize. A poodle's got to have her pride.

I just don't understand the inclination to make dogs look like people. (Especially people in Halloween costumes.) Every time I don't pay enough attention, my father is painting Chere's claws. Don't ask me; I don't know why. You read stories about people who hold weddings and birthday parties for dogs. Some dogs see psychiatrists. And I'm sure that some dogs are over-medicated by well-intentioned but stupid owners. Try to get it through your thick heads: dogs aren't people, people. If dogs were people, I'd hate them, too.

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[The Batman Coloring Page blog entry for September 15, 2006, has been relocated here.]

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A new month means new content. Professor Gradey, my comic book grading Flash animation, is now online. You can reach him through my media page, or you can just follow this link.

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Another update today, though this one is minor. I uploaded the Star Trek Communicator Happy Meal toy with sound. (The previous version had no sound.) There are still a few things to fix for the site intro, but I'll get around to that later.

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