promises, promises

we in England have been promised an Indian Summer all week, it finally decided to arrive today.

most people pray that our country's pitiful amount of sunshine will actually land on their day off, but i tend to be quite the opposite.

whilst other people may relish the chance to laze about in the sun on their day off, i actually see it as an inconvenience, for whilst we are supposedly living in the future and so much of our lives depends on keeping our social networks up-to-date, i would much rather break away from the computer when the sun is shining, which means that remix-work or writing or blog-posts will likely go AWOL whilst i seek to spend my few hours away from housework out in the garden or on the sun-drenched streets.

owning your own home becomes such an enormous burden, waking up on a beautiful day to find that this unseasonal warmth means the bedclothes need changing, and of course the bedroom needs sweeping, and clothes need putting away, and the washing up too, not to mention the fact that i want to finish a remix that needs to be submitted today, when all i should really be doing in basking in the sun like a teenage mutant vitamin D obsessed turtle.

so with housework done, i proceed to prepare for our unseasonable Barbeque, it will be the first of october on saturday, today, on wednesday, just three days prior to that traditionally autumnal month, we are experiencing heatwaves and planning for BBQs, just a shame that the sun still seems to set at some time just after 7pm.

so i google some vegetarian BBQ recipes, head off to the Co-Op down the road to pick up a couple of ingredients, and then later, with my dishes ready to marinate and a couple of sailor jerry and cokes down myself, i proceeded to make room in my fridge for the influx of beer that i expect.

jars of olives and capers are repositioned, and tubs of philly are moved.

which reminds me....

didn't i say i was gonna post up some ol' draft blog posts...

last week i had gone looking into Forbidden Planet for a couple of back issues of some DC comics (that i never managed to find), particularly the DC Retro-Active line of comics, featuring stories by writers and artist from the '70's, '80's and '90's.

i was looking out for the 80's era Superman issue, anything featuring Batman, and the '90's era Green Lantern.

y'see, i liked Kyle Rayner, of course i liked Hal, but i was also quite into this new age of comic books that seemed to be occurring around me and the new blood in superhero talent that seemed to be taking over from some of the old guard.

of course it was all a marketing ploy back then and given time the status quo would be restored (hmmmmmmmmm) and of course, the new Green Lanterns and Green Arrows and whatever else would be usurped by their predecessors given time , but i didn't realise that then.

anyways, much like most plotting for modern day comic books, i have no idea where i thought i was going with this, but i do know that i told you guys that i was intending to shed light on some almost forgotten blog-posts, and y-know what, as fate would have it, the oldest of those posts actually does pertain to circa '90's Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, and a rather unfortunate predicament his girlfriend found herself in..



see....

this is almost practically relevant to my BBQ preparations.

i had to find room in our fridge for all the chicken and other marinated meat that were likely to turn up.

and yeah, a bad guy stuffed Kyle Rayner's girlfriend in a fridge.

i might explain further tomorrow if the sun isn't shining.

otherwise you'll have to wait.........

a second life for street furniture

those that are following this may be please to know that i am now the proud owner of a makeshift computer desk that used to be someone else's filing cabinet

it also handily doubles up as my filing cabinet now

i feel as if i am following in the ikea trend of life by having dual functionalities for my furniture

and i am also following the green way of living by rescuing a piece of furniture from the side of the road (with a lil help from my brother) and thus recycling it in my own home, meaning that not only have i saved this filing cabinet from becoming just another addition to a landfill site somewhere, i have also probably reduced my carbon footprint or something equally green and trendy to be doing by not having to buy a new piece of furniture

although i am in the market for some new furniture

probably from ikea

the home is slowly becoming a contrast of ikea products and stuff that other people no-longer seem to want (should i call it up-cycling, no, cos that sounds stupid)

a couple of our garden chairs had been discarded just down the road from me (although one of them does only have 3 legs, perhaps this is why it was no longer wanted), the extendable table was a bargain from a charity shop and the same goes for a couple of the chairs around it, other chairs in the house have also been chucked out of their old homes for no good reason, our tv unit has been up-cycled (hmmm) from its original purpose as bakery trays, in the spare room there is a, frankly, quite stunning re-upholstered chair that my brother up-cycled (arrgggghhhhhh) and gave to me as a present for my birthday aaand there is still a rather fetching trunk in the shed that i still haven't found a use for just yet, but i shall.

oh, and perhaps lets not mention the horse (or the dog).

the secret shame of street furniture

ok, forget revisiting the past for now, i got something else i wanna say


i've just got back from a quick wander around the block

i didn't intend to walk round the block, but i did anyway

my sole reason for leaving the house this morning was to claim a cheap looking little three tiered unit on wheels that had been sat in a front garden on my road for the last couple of days

and herein is where the problem lies.

the poor ejected piece of furniture was about midway up the drive of the house, and in my mind i consider this something of a grey area, i know for certain that there are other people that have no qualms (for i have seen them with my own eyes) about getting stuck in to a pile of rubbish or a skip on someone else's property, but i'd be happier to make myself known to anyone that may be in the house and make my intentions clear, just incase they find that helping myself is something they didn't want happening and i end up on the receiving end of some unwelcome attention or abuse

i actually went down to the house after work on monday and knocked, yet despite there clearly being a telly on, and i could see a PC all fired up and running and what looked like a socked foot, there was no answer, perhaps the socked foot wasn't actually attached to a working leg, i am unsure, but i could see that someone was obviously home, and even tho they didn't notice someone politely knocking on their door, i was concious that they may notice someone making off with something from their front garden, so i left it

i returned this morning with the intention of having it away if there was no answer again, it seemed a safer bet that most inhabitants would either be at work or at school, making for a slightly less embarrassing getaway

but i was too late, it was already gone, and i kicked myself knowing that someone with a lesser set of morals  had probably upped and away with it without so much as a second thought, whereas i had been mulling over the idea of helping myself to it since spotting it on sunday afternoon

i also kicked myself as i already envisaged it being put to use as a slightly more practical solution for my computer that is still temporarily set up in the front room, with the monitor set atop a folding table, which then has to be removed and stuck back on the floor if anyone fancies a cup of tea with biscuits or we have guests over and bring out the cheese and wine

i also pictured the small stereo sitting rather comfortably on the bottom shelf, whilst a few light reads, magazines or perhaps my library books might look rather smart in the middle gap

alas, it was not meant to be.

so, if there is a lesson to be learnt from this, i guess i should learn to lose my fear and slight social embarrassment and act upon my impulses, or else live with the disappointment

i decided that i wouldn't walk straight back home, instead i'd take a quick wander around the block (as you already know)

and what do i discover, a home throwing out a cheap looking filing cabinet, sat in the middle of their front garden, now, i'm not entirely sure what i'd do with it, but i'm sure i could find a home for it, i'm just not sure i'd feel entirely comfortable wheeling the thing home (presuming it even had wheels)

oh well, here we go again

saved as draft

i was just about to knock up a quick blog post, inspired by an image i had seen in a newspaper at the weekend, relating it back to an earlier post on this blog that it had reminded me of.

so, with picture uploaded i went searching through my archives in order to find the relevant post in question.

and it didn't exist.


blast it, damn, it must have been one of those ideas that i had previously had, yet never had the chance to fully flesh out, any self-respecting blogger will know that these are saved as drafts, so that they can be revisited later, updated and blogged properly.

yet any self-respecting blogger will probably also know that it isn't always the case that these drafts actually see the light of day.

they're just forgotten about, as you go about your normal bloggy life, whilst other ideas that come to fruition quicker supercede that initial thought and get left behind.

this also reminded me of another idea that i'd had way back when, when it had got to the point that i had a number of drafts that were being neglected.... 'hey! why don't i do a number of posts that finally shed light on those poor discarded nearly-posts!'

yep, that was the plan, except i never got round to doing that either.

i now have 120 draft blog posts. not all of these were destined for publishing, i sometimes use blogger just to put together ideas, or to work on reviews that end up on other websites, i tend to find blogger and it's auto-save a rather reliable tool and it also means i don't have to worry about where a word document is saved and having to take it with me


but considering my blogging can get a little bit slack occasionally, i think i shall have to go back through my saved posts and breath new life into them

and what can you expect?

hmmmm, well the missing post i went searching for featured a certain superhero clad in green that has resurfaced a few times since what should have been his initial debut on my blog. so keep your eyes peeled for that one....


but i can't be the only one with drafts piling up. what does your unpublished blog list look like?

he's our hero

i've come to that age when you suddenly starting clinging to nostalgic memories, longing for discarded toys and feeling the need to revisit old tv programmes that had you glued to the idiot box in your formative years

this is why you'll find 80s cartoons gracing the t-shirt racks of many highstreet clothes shops, and why you'll find dvd reissues of classic cartoons

now that we have grown up and no longer ask our parents for money, we are invited to spend our disposable income on recapturing our youth, as if we didn't rinse enough of mum and dad's money on merchandise the first time round

and i'll pity anyone that has coughed up for something like the Thundercats box-sets, as a few years ago i got my hands on a video (retro, i know) of the Thundercats movie that he was chucking out, it is essentially the first few episodes cobbled together without any title sequences to break it all up, and it was utterly disapointing

obviously my under-developed brain was more than content with the flimsy stories that usually lead to fighting and a moral ending, i had thundercats wallpaper in my bedroom and oversized Lion-O and Mum-Ra toys that would also keep me entertained for hours on end, sadly, rose tinted memories were blown away by watching the cartoon with a more mature point of view (although i'd love to get my hands back on the toys, just for old times sake)

and now of course we endure barrages of remakes, either on the small screen or in the cinemas

Transformers enraged me, Turtles entertained me, and it is with trepidation that i shall view the new Thundercats cartoon


i've also come to that age where i have had friends over to my house who are younger than me, and looked bemused at mentions of Captain Planet.

guests at a superhero themed party were urged with a message from Captain Planet to recycle their empty bottles and cans in the correct bins

and even with nostalgia on it's side, Captain Planet is still considered something of a joke amongst those that witnessed it first time around


which is why the news that it is currently being considered for a cinematic revival is troubling news indeed.

cos to be quite honest, Captain Planet was shit.


but if Hollywood had the balls to handle the film like this (seriously or not) i'd be a hell of a lot more interested

Don Cheadle is Captain Planet from Don Cheadle

let the campaign start now...

Don Cheadle for the power-crazed Captain Planet

we're going through changes

so, as of this week, everything changed.

except some of it didn't.

not that i'd know too much about it, having just finished reading Battle For The Cowl and still not having touched Blackest Night and Brightest Day yet, let alone Flashpoint.

yeah, i'm talking about comics!


not only was the 31st of August 2011 an important day in my household, being the first anniversary of getting the keys to the house and going in and cleaning everything before settling down for a pizza and a night on an air mattress, it was also the day that followers of the DC universe may or may not have been waiting for, as the comics company swiped away a whole bunch of history and began re-numbering issues from #1, starting with JLA #1, ahead of 51 other other titles that shall be following shortly

i won't be clamouring to pick up a whole barrage of number 1 issues, to be honest, i doubt i'll actually buy any, there won't be much on offer to me as a comic book fan other than the chance to get slightly obsessive and delve back into the addictive world of buying monthly issues of comics, that i left behind some 11 or 12 years ago (not counting a slight blip buying the english reprints that got me hooked on Grant Morrison's run on Batman)

if there are stories worth reading that evolve from this 'new universe' than i shall consider stumping up for the collected trade paperbacks to find out why Superman doesn't wear his red pants anymore, why oh why can Barbara Gordon walk again and will Green lantern devise anymore crotch-mounted artillery?


these are comics tho, and i wonder how long it'll really be until the real reasoning behind a new universe is revealed, or how long until whatever changes are made are reversed, or rewritten, or forgotten or maybe just borrowed from in the next big shake up that will inevitably follow at some point or another.

but if i'm losing you... perhaps hear this guy out and see just why these changes are so important...