Yesterday I attended James' birthday at Medieval Times. I look so happy to be there.

While I'm showing pictures, the wedding pictures from last week came in. I look so happy to be there.

Walter only has two expressions: scowling and this, my all purpose face which I call "not scowling."

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A cleric, a monk, and a druid stood together against the malicious, knife-wielding creeper. The clank of sword on steel echoed down the hall, the sounds of battle from the adventuring party's lone fighter.

Pausing just long enough to cast a quick spell against the creeper, the cleric hustled away to tend to the fighter. The druid was worried. The departing cleric gave an encouraging wink to the druid, "Don't worry; you've got this."

As fluid as water, the monk struck the creeper and sprinted away towards the fighter's opponent. The druid still had doubt. The darting monk gravely reassured to the druid, "He said you've got this."

With the violence of a snake, the creeper hurled a knife that struck the druid's chest. The druid was visibly upset. The creeper said to the druid with a giggle, "You've got this!"

Like the proverbial sack of potatoes, the wounded druid crumpled to the ground. The druid sighed. Said the druid to himself, "Were they talking to me?"

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Welcome back, those of you who avoided Superman Month. You're just in time for a slide show of my summer vacation!

Wait, come back! I can't afford to lose any more readers! Fine, no slides! How about if I just post some pictures I took of Cedar Point instead? You can pretend that they are postcards! Ok? Whew. Crisis averted.

In case you are unaware, Cedar Point is an amusement park on the Ohio shore of Lake Erie. Cedar Point is the second oldest existing amusement park in America, and it is home to more roller coasters than any other amusement park in the world. This year's semi-annual pilgrimage marked the 10-year anniversary of my first trip to the park for the unveiling of Millennium Force, at the time the tallest and fastest coaster in the world. I would like to hope that I have aged as well as that coaster.

Giant Wheel and Wicked Twister define the shore of Lake Erie as seen from Space Spiral.

Millennium Force crests its second-tallest hill as seen from the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railroad.
(Footnote: This image was taken by my friend Michael Foster, though it was my camera so I am taking credit for it.)

Max Air proves that good parks don't need 6 flags.

View of Dodgem bumper car pavilion with inset of sign lit for night.

Sky Ride passes by Raptor as seen from the Midway at dusk.

Composite view of Wildcat, the greatest little coaster in the park.

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My friend Mike tells me that I would enjoy The Dark Knight. And if Mike says so, maybe it's true. He's usually right about what I will and will not enjoy. I don't know how he does it, but he knows. I guess our shared obsession with the minutia of DC Comics mythology and continuity makes us something of kindred spirits. (And may go a long way towards explaining why we're both single.)

He was absolutely right about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I'd never previously cared for Joss Wheden's work. Mike insists that I've just never gotten on-board his series at accessible points. (I swear I tried to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it seems that I always caught the same episodes.) But Dr. Horrible is right in ALL the right ways. Ahhh, the sweet-sweet goodness of the singing super-villain and the Evil League of Evil.

So if Mike says see The Dark Knight, I think I might have to. How can a man who proudly carries his own superhuman registration card in his wallet (for two decades!) be wrong?

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A hearty "Thank You" to my good friend Mike Foster who e-mailed me the identity of the Mystery Villain:

So I pulled out the Invasion series with all the tie-ins today. Didn't get far when I saw a cover of the series he premiered in. One quick search later: Strobe. Power of the Atom issue 3. (Wed 12/27/2006)

According to dcuguide.com ("The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe"), Strobe first appeared in Power of the Atom #3 in October 1988, just a few months before the DC Universe-spanning Invasion event.

A villain wearing an advanced suit of armor that could throw concussion blasts and deliver blinding flashes of light. Strobe fought the Atom (II) [Ray Palmer], who turned him over to the authorities [PotA #3]. Breaking free from prison, Strobe took another identity as the samurai-inspired Edg the Destroyer [PotA #12], but was once again defeated by the Atom, subsequently returning to his Strobe identity [PotA #13].

Strobe certainly belongs to the same clique of loser villains as Rainbow Raider. In the issue, Strobe was angry that Atom's heroics were stealing headlines from his bank robberies, so he decided to throw down with a Justice Leaguer. (That's a bad idea. Villains with light-inspired gimmicks have a long history of bad luck with the JLA in particular and other DC Universe heroes in general.) I postulate that if Strobe is robbing banks for public attention, he probably is in the wrong line of work. Try robbing television studios next time, Strobe. Of course, Strobe loses his fight to Atom, and he practically disappears from the DC Universe.

Mike, you found a character who has only appeared in 4 books in the 80-year history of DC Comics. Congrats, man. Consider yourself the Indiana Jones of the comic book vault.

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I just saw X2 again. It's worse the second time than the first. My major argument is still that it just isn't a very good movie: pacing is slow, characters are 2D, climax is drawn-out and unfulfilling. Once they get past the new special effects (which all seem to be in the first 45 minutes), there's not much left. And the ending? I finally saw it with some non-fanboys and they were completely lost and frustrated by the ending -- not to mention much of the rest of the action. (Jean can destroy missles but not lift the jet from inside? Sure, there may be a comic explination, Foster, but they left it off-screen.) X2 is just disappointing.
The one bit of good news from the second viewing: Franklin Richards.

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