I'm not very good at singing songs...

Another video is making the round in YouTube-land that has caught my attention, and compelled me to watch it a half-dozen times in a row. It's one of those things that's just bizarre, campy, strange... yet affecting in a way that appeals to the little kid in me who used to leaf through books on space, and who still enjoys a star-filled night sky today. Enjoy!



..and something tells me that Carl Sagan might have enjoyed it himself.

A still more glorious dawn awaits
Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise
A morning filled with 400 billion suns
The rising of the milky way...

But, what about tater tots?

A couple weeks ago, my friend, Jody, posted a link that I thought was worth putting up on General Admission: It's "simply" a list of The 50 Best Foods in the World and Where to Eat Them. No small claim there! Like a multi-course meal, I've been slowly reading my way through it, and each time come away hungry.

It seems like the sort of thing that, in certain circles, would be endlessly debatable. I mean, you might not agree with what they claim are the 50 "best foods" (I for one, am not a fan of items one or two on the list). Or, even if you like everything on the list, you probably know a place you think has the best Pho or the juiciest Hamburger. Still, there are plent of entries that make me want to grab my suitcase and do a culinary tour.

Yum! ...Can you tell its lunchtime?

Oh, and with regards to the title of this entry, actually item #41 on the list is "Best Place for Fried Potatoes." I guess that's close enough.

Bi-Czar

Generally speaking (sic), I don't get into politics much here at General Admission. Partially, that out of respect for friends and family members that might disagree with my opinions, but who follow this blog. But, its also because, if you really want to read someone's political opinions, there are definitely more informed (or at least more passionate) sites out there than this one.

That said, some things just beg to be posted here. For example...



Seriously?! I mean, wow. Where to start? Oh, how about here...

I'd think that, if you were going to go through the effort of making signs and T-shirts demonizing "Czars," you might at least want to have a vague functioning understanding of what the roll of a Czar is, in US politics. I mean, its one thing to oppose Obama's somewhat hyperactive tendency to appoint Czars for everything on the basis that maybe it's not the best usage of government money (at least that's a debatable argument). But, it's a whole different ball-o-crazy to be against Czars because you think they are the masterminds behind some sort of Neo-Communist-Illuminati-style takeover of the United States based on the historical lineage of the name "Czar" alone. It's not like the roll of Czars in US politics is Top Secret or something.

Wedding Season

Here in the Sunny™ Pacific Northwest, August is by far the most dependably sunny month of the year. Therefor, it's not surprising that each year there is a flurry of weddings in August. Heck, Sarah and I got married in August! And, this year is no different, with no less than three couples we know tying the knot.

So, since July is winding down, and Wedding Season is about to officially begin, and in honor of Zeke & Anushka, Emily & Roger and Alison & Rhett, I present what might be the happiest wedding procession entry I've seen...

Apparently, Wolverine really is the "best he is, at what he does."

So, when I mention to my friends that I have collected X-Men comic books since I was in 5th grade, they generally respond with some variation of "that's nice." Or, rather, "that's not very interesting."

But, when I then go on to suggest that they should start reading X-Men comic books themselves, they usually point out that the X-Universe is an impenetrable web of interchangeable characters whose names and relationships with each other are impossible for a new reader to follow ...much less care about.

Fair enough.

That's why, while I'm off vacationing in Hawaii, I suggest that you all get up to speed on your Who's Who in the X-Universe by reviewing this X-Men Universe Relationship Map which layout all the dirty details as who's done what with who in the greater X-Men Universe...



...there, that should clean things up for you quickly. Any questions? Sadly, I can't claim to have created that mini-masterpiece, and it was instead created by the helpful people over at UncannyXMen.net, who not only created it but have a zoom-able and explorable version of it here (Check it out! But, also be warned it takes a minute to load).

If that all seems like too much for you, maybe you can just start out with their Summer's Family Tree which charts all of Cyclop's family. See, much easier.

OK, I'm off to Hawaii! Study up while I'm gone. There will be a quiz when I get back. Aloha!

(Special thanks to Jon Quixote for pointing out the X-Men Relationship Chart.)

Big Words

It's been a while since I posted anything here, so I figured it was time to spam those of you who actually stop by with some random knowledge... or, at the very least, some random thoughts and ideas by Milton Glaser (of the "I ♥ New York" logo fame).

Fig 1: Milton Glaser.

Over on the Other Internet, Thaddeus Gunn pointed out this excerpt from a talk Milton Glaser gave at an AIGA function in London back in 2001. In it he discusses "Ten Things I Have Learned," and while I'm sure a lot of people can probably find something on his list to disagree with, it's still a pretty interesting read. I was originally going to cut and paste the whole thing here, but that might be too intimidating, so I figured that I could just do a bullet list of the things he's learned instead...

10 Things Milton Glaser has Learned

• YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
• IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
• SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
• PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
• LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
• STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
• HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
• DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
• ON AGING.
• TELL THE TRUTH.

There, now that you've read the Online Marketing Bullet Point-style list, go read the whole thing here! As Glaser points out himself, "less is not necessarily more" so do you really want to only read the condensed version?

Look! Up in the sky! ...or, er, wait...

Sometimes, I come across a news story that leaves me struggling to figure out which response to embrace. Do I A) mock the easily mockable (oh, so very, very tempting), B) let my inner fanboy geek out a little, or C) try to turn it into some sort of poorly conceived commentary on the modern world. In these cases, I think it's better to just D) post it here...

(As I find myself saying here way to often: You can't make this stuff up.... oh, well, unless your a comic book writer, I guess.)

From CNN.com

Amid hard times, an influx in real superheroes



By Craig Johnson
Special to CNN

(CNN) -- Mr. Ravenblade, Mr. Xtreme, Dark Guardian and hundreds of others. Some with elaborate costumes, others with haphazardly stitched outfits, they are appearing on city streets worldwide watching over the populace like Superman watched over Metropolis and Batman over Gotham City.

Geist patrols the Rochester, Minnesota, area, with a group of like-minded and similarly dressed colleagues.

As people become disillusioned from financial woes and a downtrodden economy and look to put new purpose in their lives, everyday folks are taking on new personas to perform community service, help the homeless and even fight crime.

"The movement is growing," said Ben Goldman, a real-life superhero historian. Goldman, along with Chaim "Life" Lazaros and David "Civitron" Civitarese, runs the New York-based Web site Superheroes Anonymous as part of an initiative dedicated to organizing and making alliances with superhero groups.

According to Goldman, who goes by the moniker Cameraman because of his prowess in documenting the movement, economic troubles are spawning real life superheroes.

"A lot of them have gone through a sort of existential crisis and have had to discover who they are," Goldman said. People are starting to put value in what they can do rather than what they have, he said. "They realize that money is fleeting, it's in fact imaginary."

Estimates from the few groups that keep tabs put the worldwide total of real-life superheroes between 250 and 300. Goldman said the numbers were around 200 just last summer.

Mr. Ravenblade, laid off after a stint with a huge computer technology corporation, found inspiration for his new avocation a few years ago from an early morning incident in Walla Walla, Washington.

"I literally stepped into a woman's attempted rape/mugging," Mr. Ravenblade said. While details were lost in the fog of the fight, he remembers this much: "I did what I could," he said, adding that he stopped the crime and broke no laws. "And I realized after doing what I did, that people don't really look after people."

Public response to real-life superheroes has been mixed, according to Mr. Xtreme, who founded the Xtreme Justice League in San Diego, California.

"Sometimes it's been really positive with people saying, 'Woohoo, the superheroes are here,' and then the usual barrage, saying 'Oh, these guys are losers.' Other times people will look kind of freaked out, and then sometimes people just don't know what to think about us."

Like Peter Parker kept his Spider-Man identity from his editor boss, Mr. Extreme and Mr. Ravenblade have asked CNN editors to keep their identities secret.

The current superhero movement started a few years ago on MySpace, as people interested in comics and cool caped crusaders joined forces, Goldman said. It goes beyond the Guardian Angel citizen patrols of the early 1980s, as the real-life superheroes of today apply themselves to a broadly defined ethos of simply doing good works.

Chris Pollak, 24, of Brooklyn, New York, can attest to the appeal. "A lot more people are either following it or wanting to go out and do it," Pollack, who goes by the name Dark Guardian, said. By "do it," he means patrol the harrowing streets late at night.

"A lot of kids say they're real-life superheroes [on MySpace]," Mr. Ravenblade said. "But what are you doing? Being in front of a computer is not helping anybody."

Comic book legend Stan Lee, the brain behind heroes such as Spider-Man and the X-Men, said in his comic books doing good -- and availing one's self -- was indeed the calling card for superheroes.

"If somebody is committing a crime, if somebody is hurting some innocent person, that's when the superhero has to take over."

"I think it's a good thing that people are eager enough to want to help their community. They think to do it is to emulate the superheroes," Lee said. "Now if they had said they had super powers [that would be another thing]."

Without super powers, real life superheroes confess to a mere-mortal workload, including helping the homeless, handing out fliers in high-crime areas and patrolling areas known for drug-dealing.

Mr. Ravenblade said he and some of his superfriends would soon be trying to organize a Walk for Babies fundraiser in Portland, Oregon.

"We work with charities that help children," he said. "We think a lot of crimes happen because of people who didn't get a lot of love when they were younger. We do what we can to help that there."

"Homeless outreach is the main thing I like to do," said Chaim "Life" Lazaros, of Superheroes Anonymous. "We give out food, water, vitamins, toothbrushes. A lot of homeless people in my area know me, and they tell us about what they need. One homeless guy said 'I need a couple pair of clean underwear.'"

For Christmas, Lazaros said his group raised $700 in gifts and brought them to kids at St. Mary's Children's Hospital in New York. "They were so excited to see real-life superheroes," Lazaros said. iReport.com: Searching for Cincinnati's caped crusader

Many of the real-life superheroes even initiate citizen's arrests, but what's legal varies by state. And in North Carolina citizen's arrests are illegal. Real-life superheroes who grab a suspected villain may find themselves under a specter of trouble.

"Not a good idea," said Katy Parker, legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina. "Seeing as how there's no citizen's arrest statute [in the state], people who do this are running a serious risk of getting arrested for kidnapping, and being liable for false imprisonment."

"Vigilantism is never a good thing," said Bernard Gonzales, public information officer for the Chula Vista, California, Police Department. He's had some interactions with real-life superheroes. "The very best thing a private citizen can do is be a good witness."

Mr. Ravenblade said he's just that.

"If you're a real-life superhero you follow the law. If you catch somebody you can't just tie them up and leave them for the cops, that's for the comics. You have to wait for the cops and give them a statement," Mr. Ravenblade said.

While citizens helping out in the community is encouraged, Gonzales said the costumes can go.

"Where these people are out in public, and there's children around and everything, and these people are not revealing their identities, it's not a safe thing."

But the costumes go with the gig, right down to the do-it-yourself approach to good deeds, including, apparently, recycling.

"The costume I have is simple," said Mr. Xtreme. "I made it myself. I had a graphic designer design it for me and just took it down to the swap meet and had somebody imprint it on for me."

"The mask," an old bullfighter's piece, "I got from Tijuana."

Want to see photos? Check out giggle-worthy World Superhero Registry.