MikeRapin

Twitter Updates for 2008-07-16

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:53:43 -0700

Whew that podcast was tiring. #
@Robrogan maybe a fair warning when you link to iTunes? #
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG -> http://tinyurl.com/6ejle8 (I'm excited) #
@Robrogan no, it auto opens. just saying. #
@Robrogan it's a preference I have set. it's just an annoyance to not know that a link is from iTunes and force iTunes to open/unhide #
Blogging... and I'm excited about it. #
retweeting @destroythecyb: New blog post: Invincble: The Series http://tinyurl.com/5rlhwc #
Packing for Rapinstock 2008 #
@warley ohhh snap #
@ijustine the one that makes you shut the fuck up #
@cowboyEric haha same here! #
Listening to last night's podcast. Gotta finish up a few tasks today before I leave for Rapinstock. #
scratch it. levelating in the background. #
<3 Web Developer toolbard #
@themacinjosh no. don't worry it's all good. #
"WHO THE FUCK IS LUKE PERRY IN THE 5TH ELEMENT!?" #
I need to stop getting DB errors... ugh (typos) #
Pancakes + coffee with hot cocoa mix #
@K82 Yea. I found that out... give me a moment to post the podcast I'm on for this week... it's kind of a joke. #
ok, finished the /rec stuff.. waiting on how to do the admin, now onto some finishing touches for /survey #
Also, mixing down the podcast in the bg #
General Awesomeness, News and Comics #6 -> http://bit.ly/1DvSbi I mentioned a bunch of you guys on the podcast this week #
@Bobwise yea, I got that. Check out my new podcast to get why I said that -> http://bit.ly/1DvSbi #
@K82 http://bit.ly/1DvSbi -> my new podcast with the Luke Perry joke #
This week's podcast has a fun Luke Perry scream session by me -> http://bit.ly/1DvSbi #
@chrisbrogan windows movie maker? lol jk #
@Bobwise haha it's cool #
@Bobwise use iTunes #
scratch /survey for now. Fixing something for /studentlife #
one more cup of coffee #
@chrisbrogan we mentioned you in this week's podcast on ErrorInSyntax.com. If you get a chance, check it out -> http://bit.ly/1DvSbi #
Oh! And we had fun looking at Steven Tyler in a speedo at the end of the podcast lol -> http://bit.ly/1DvSbi #
@alligatorsaurus how do you lose a bra? lol #
<3 Bit.ly #
Wow. I jst freed up 22GB of space on my HD. #
Wtf. my computer is being all wacky. #
Leaving in about 5minutes to get some lunch and some comics. #
Holy damn 4pm is gone... We're waiting on stevel to check his car before we leave... :

This week: Amazing Spider-Man #566

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:32:29 -0700

Guys and gals! Did you hear the news?! Amazing Spider-Man is coming out 3 times a month and we're only on issue two of this month!! Holy moly! What kind of mischief is going to fall down upon our favorite webslinger this week? Part one of Kraven's First Hunt titled "Breakdown" was quite out of nowhere, but that's what makes it fun... right? Part two is this week and wowee I'm ready! The craziness that happened last week with everyone's favorite Peter Parker in the mix, the internet (aka Marvel.com) is saying that this week we are surely in for a treat! Spider-Man is on his way to having a whole slew of villains on his butt including Mr. Negative, Kraven, and our new mystery girl who is apparently "the person who is going to kill Spider-Man." This story is nothing outside of straight up crazy! From how it looks, we may be in for some more rehashing of baddies this week. Daredevil is supposed to be in the mix as a semi-tag-team is likely to ensue as a barrage of bad guys topple over Spidey this week. As Nick has complained about, maybe we'll get a bit of closure with someone this week, but one can only hope. I'm sure things will be great though. Marc Guggenheim is just plain awesome in his writing style and his clever quirks (see last week's incident at the comic shop in ASM #565) give off what can only be expected from a Spider-Man title: a great comic book. To top everything off, the combination of Phil Jimnez, Andy Lanning, and Jeromy Cox with the art is just beautiful and exactly what I like to see when I read an ASM comic. With the said team working on #566 this week's issue it only means more clever banter (as always) along with an outstanding plot. I'm more than excited for this week's issue, and unlike Nick I'm really enjoying Brand New Day Spidey... It's not the old Spidey but it's still a damn good Spidey. (Can I say Spidey one more time? haha) Tags: comics

Twitter Updates for 2008-07-15

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:32:28 -0700

So the (office?)is pretty much gone right and it's only 9pm.Way to go Mom and Dad.
http://tinyurl.com/6kwd47 #
Fucking looong ass night... Shower then bed. #
I got a very fucked up e-mail this morning... Not sure what to do #
Maybe some fall of troy and comics will make of feel better #
at work. bleh i feel shitty. #
#twitterspam -> @zwoof #
@exsnohs awwwwwwwwwwwwww lucky!!! #
@exsnohs (i was referring to seeing MC Chris) #
@exsnohs lol. He's a fucking king. ::listening now:: #
Now I'm just getting riled the fuck up. I need to lay off this e-mail bullshit and do some fucking work before I snap. #
@themacinjosh oh yea? sorry dude. just a shitty way to start the morning getting an e-mail from the last person you'd expect to send one. #
"F.T.W." - MC Chris -> Thanks @exsnohs #
shhh -- upgrading wordpress on http://www.mikerapin.com/blog http://destroythecyb.org/blog/ and http://errorinsyntax.com/ #
"Wiid" - MC Chris -> ummmm amazing #
@themacinjosh thanks. #
I need to respond. #
Yea, this is one of the hardest e-mails I've ever had to write. #
@madmarvelgirl that'd be cool! be warned: I'm a terrible writer. haha #
@BrianReed are you on wordpress.com or on your own server? #
Dresden Dolls are making me feel better. #
Man I'm pumped to go up north... so pumped. #
@danielslaughter Oh damn! It's your birthday! #
done and done. #
finishing some fixes for /jcp for @benrapin #gvwebteam #
rewriting the groupexercise pass form for /rec #gvwebteam #
thinking I need to write some fixes for the twitter module for /webteam so that it'll work after 12pm #
11:34am - time for some Nerds #
Aha! A cabin key! Rapinstock 2008 is on it's way!! #
exercise form is on hold, moving on to..... the consultant directory for /jcp #
also, Refused in mah ears #
@BrianReed hm. still searching if you haven't found a solution yet #
wait, back to the exercise pass form #gvwebteam #
API is at 100 requests an hour!?!?!?! -> http://www.grabup.com/uploads/a0e7f86c1b0e15f72a2c4ba19f515825.png #
Retweet @twitter: Announcing search!: http://search.twitter.com. Why? http://tinyurl.com/56j2zx #
Getting Subway for lunch methinks. #
metalocalypse with subway + coke zero for lunch #
Time for some Bleach. #
@xdeceitfulgod haha. any reason? #
@crystal http://doctorhorrible.net/ - I'm utterly confused. haha #
Refused again. I need to think of a bitch for tonight's podcast... anyone know something I could complain about? #
(okay back to work) #
@ijustine I think you're a liar. big fat liar. #
@Annaleen that was me. sorry #
Haha i was in the bathroom when the power went out.... Fuck it sacred me... #
even with the power out, the test server is up... lets do some work on /rec #
Going to z's... down the daaaaark starwell.... or the not-lighted elevator... I'll let you know... #
25 minutes of power left in my battery... power should be back on at 4 apparently. work x #
Shutting down now. no more battery. #
Back at the apartment. We have TV and Air conditioning. Channel flipping for the first time all summer. #
@Robrogan not until today. #
Fuck. So, they have no Canoes left for Saturday... so canoeing is probably happening on Friday. #
Okay. Canoes reserved for friday at 12. @robrogan that means you have to be up north by 11. #
Getting chinese with @themacinjosh and @l4zyn3rd #
BK for dinner because I think the Chinese place is shut down lol #
@Beckey works for me. #
Finished watching TV and eating. Getting ready to podcast now. #
@Robrogan call me when you're close. #
finished podcasting. wowzer fun #

No tags for this post.

Supreme Power #1-12

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:29:45 -0700

I've been meaning to read Supreme Power for the last year and a half and somehow I just never go around to it. Lucky for me, I managed to pick up the three trade paperbacks of the main series when I was at Wizard World Chicago, so I decided to start reading the first TPB and ended up flying through it followed by the 2nd and boy was I impressed! J. Michael Straczynski can seriously write a badass story and the art by Gary Frank is simply amazing. A great combo if you ask me. This story is Marvel's second rendition of the original Squadron Supreme, which had it's basis on DC's famous heroes back in Avengers #85. It's all fun stuff, but you can read the wikipedia article if you want more info on that series. **spoiler alert for the first 12 issues** The Supreme Power series takes its focus on Hyperion (the Superman of the series) in the beginning. We see his coming to Earth and being taken in by the US government-rather than, in Superman's case, being taken in by a farmer and his wife. The government names this project of a child, who they can already tell is very special, "Hyperion". Cool right? The story moves onward to show more of, as the government names him, Mark Milton's upbringing. His parents are fake, the world he lives in is fake (like in The Truman Show or something) and eventually he realizes this once his powers begin to manifest. Straczynski does a great job of emphasizing how terrible it is to raise a child is in a loveless relationship. I liked the point that he made by showing out how fucked up Mark Milton begins to get given his upbringing. This, of course, is shown further on in the series, but lets not rush things. Fast forward to the near future, Hyperion is a secret government weapon. Badda-bing-badda-boom the US is winning Desert Storm. I thought this was kind of politcally funny, but that's beside the point which is people aren't dumb... well at least most aren't and eventually someone is going to notice that the US is miraculously winning wars, and what do you know? Someone does: a journalist. After he does a serious amount of investigating coming near inches from breaking the story, the government realizes how close he is and breaks the story of Hyperion for him. And the world is amazed. Hyperion becomes an idol for America, but this means the government can no longer use him as a weapon without the rest of the world flipping out. In the middle of all this, we also see the creation and build up of three other characters: Nighthawk (Batman): A black supremacist who only saves black people in Chicago. A true anti-hero to the story, he becomes the way he is because his parents were killed when he was a young boy by a white supremacist (irony?). Apparently he is rich as fuck and acts as a vigilante in Chicago. Blur (The Flash): A speedster who rivals that of Hyperion (did I mention he had super speed?) from the south who does small deeds to help others and is also black. He is anonymous in the beginning. His powers are unexplained. Doc Spectrum (Not sure...): His powers get developed later in the series, but he basically has infinite amounts of power and can go toe-to-toe with Hyperion. This power is caused by a crystal found in the ship that brought Hyperion from space. Before he was affected by the crystal, he was Joseph Ledger: a military man asked to try and control said crystal by a general for the US army. Upon touching the crystal to his skin, it instantly bonds with him and put him in a coma. Amphibian (I got that from wikipedia; Aquaman(?)): I'm thinking you can guess her powers... breathing under water/living under water... as far as we know. Also, being naked-which isn't a power, but just plain fun. She isn't too shown off in the first 12 issues... she has a few spots here and there, but the most we see of her is near the middle of the 2nd arc of the story where she meets Doc Spectrum. Even then, it's brief. Her powers are unexplained. Princess Zarda (Wonder Woman): This character... she was a bit strange. She is shown a few times earlier in the story as some Greek goddess who is being fed by a family and only her hands are shown... it's odd. Eventually, after Hyperion's fight with Doc Spectrum (I'll explain) she comes out-naked-and she goes from nasty old to gorgeous and progresses the story. Her powers (as far as I know) are the same as Hyperion's: alien. Moving forward, Hyperion begins to question who he is and where he comes from. Especially after meeting Blur and Doc Spectrum he begins to see he isn't alone. Eventually we see Blur going public with who he is and gains a giant contract with a few athletic companies bringing in tons of money for him and how mother. This, near the end of the 12 issues Nighthawk gets on his ass for not helping out his people, to which Blur reponds that, basically, Nighthawk is a racist. It was kind of cool. Doctor Spectrum and Hyperion fight after Hyperion-happier than a pig in shit-decides to go find "another like him". Doc Spectrum isn't right in his head at the time and decides to fight Hyperion... as it turns out, Hyperion is way fucking stronger than the government thought. This all helps to push Zarda's want to take over the world with Hypersion after her and Hyperion 'hang out'. You really have to read it to understand it. The 2 arcs end with a mysterious killer, who, as it turns out is super strong, likes to rip the arms off hookers and is a former convict on death row. Thanks to Nighthawk's snooping abilities, Hyperion, Blur and Nighthawk investigate the murder, but nothing is solved. Zarda ends up going a bit crazy and Amphibian stays in the water (she's kind of depressing). Doc Spectrum is protecting a scientist who is inestigating a co-worker that ends up being the cause for this mysterious killer. Thanks Science! The next trade-paperback is going to super awesome as, I hope, this all gets concluded and I get to read the Hyperion mini-series, and such. I'm super excited. Tags: amazing, comics, hyperion, marvel, spoilers, summary

Twitter Updates for 2008-07-14

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:29:45 -0700

fucking cell phone is destroyed after going in the lake... my bad. Is that a sign from the gods for me to get an iPhone? haha #
Sitting at my family's house talking about Tarot card readings #
@madmarvelgirl oh my it is such a good series #
Back from the parents house. It was fun with Nick Renkes, Erika and @dallsw #
** @dallasw #
FUCK I need a new phone... tomorrow is going to suck without a phone... #
iPhone... I want.... #
awake and without a cell phone... diggity damn. #
@xdeceitfulgod crackberry... not sure. Advantages? #
@themacinjosh idk... i'm going to stop by the AT&T store today after work, but I'll need a phone by Wednesday no matter what. #
@themacinjosh true... but I still need a phone and I'd like to get my own contract and such. #
#twitterspam -> @debbie565 #
HORSE The Band was already paused in my iTunes... going to listen to them for a while. #
This week is only 2.5 days long for me (@ work) and I'm going to make it count! (woo inspired for some reason) #
"Manateen" - HORSE the Band -> 100% fucking amazing. #
more fucking #twitterspam -> @kristy363 #
@xdeceitfulgod iPhone does that. #
Um, fuck yes? -> http://tinyurl.com/6nl5yq #
On Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe -> http://bit.ly/BfNr #
Searched Summize for twitterspam: http://tinyurl.com/58mpjj -> is twitter not doing anything about this? #
@xdeceitfulgod yea yea. I've been told not to get a crackberry.. #
@Omek whaaaaaaaa? that is total bull. #
@madmarvelgirl no clue. I must be cool or something.. haha #
@madmarvelgirl haha. tis true. Did you see SkyNet is now online? (seriously, it's in the UK) #
printing some bullshit for my student loan #
"The Black Hole" - HORSE the Band -> amazing song to end an album on. #
@presentday bist du Spanisch sprechen? #
#twitterspam (?) @berkeyl #
Moving on to HORSE Th Band's most recent album "A Natural Death" #
@quincyjones well thanks! ::blushes:: #
@leanda ohhh snap. #
@presentday Aha! Italianisch! #
@exsnohs uhh duh. too cool for school. #
time to make some pancakes & sausages. bizzitch. #
@ijustine you should feel right at home with that then #
man, this week is going to be good -> http://www.grabup.com/uploads/6f5cbd0f93f1929123ff7a2986084327.png #
@chrisbrogan definitely. #
@exsnohs didn't that have Shawn from Boy Meets World in it? #
@exsnohs hahah I wonder what he's doing nowadays... still riding off the Disney money maybe? ::checks IMDb:: #
@exsnohs lmao -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0961722/ #
Oh my gawd. Just watched like 4 minutes of Step Up 2 The Streets... holy fucking lol #
@quincyjones hahahahahaha you are a king. #
@exsnohs T-Mobile and blow me. #
@exsnohs ** T-Mobile CAN blow me. #
@quincyjones lmao. #
@exsnohs hahaha #
Timelapse of 2 plants at work over the weekend -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/greedyfly/2668110258/ #
@exsnohs @quincyjones you two crack me up like dry skin in the sun. #
El #twitterspam @helen232 @mary898 #
#twitterspam @yolandajenkins (?) #
fuuuck this options thing sucks mah ballsss #
@quincyjones don't be mean to @darkgracie!!!!!!!!! I wuv her and she's nice. #
checking to see if anyone has iphones... #
Trying to see if anyone has any iPhones... haha #
no one has iPhone (obviously).. it sucks because I want one and need a new phone. #
@alligatorsaurus to sell (like att store or apple store) #
any suggestions as to what phone I should buy next to the iPhone? #
@Beckey 4pm #
@darkgracie I want 3G... grr.... stupid me for waiting until the Monday after to ruin my current phone and want a new iPhone. #
I fucking hate Jessica Alba for not getting naked in Sin City like she was supposed to. #
I wonder if the apple store will have more iPhones tomorrow... #
@Beckey YES. #
@darkgracie yea. they're all "well, we don't know when we'll get more but come in an we can secure one with your credit card." ass-clowns... #
@darkgracie in-fucking-deed #
#twitterspam -fucking lame- @lisa59 #
"Cutsman" - HORSE the Band -> making me feel better about not having an iPhone... a little. #
Getting ahold of this movie right now and I can't fucking wait to watch it -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_(film) #
@Beckey figured as much. thanks for trying. #
@new4am that is quite possibly one the best feelings ever #
definitely not feeling the afternoon... meh #
@bigred970 ohhh yea it is #
@Jmcoon lmao. please tell me you're joking #
@biz what are you guys doing to stop #twitterspam ? I've gotten 20+ in the last week: http://is.gd/T8h #
@al3x what are you guys doing to stop #twitterspam ? I've gotten 20+ in the last week: http://is.gd/T8h #
HOLY SHIT IT'S.... TWITTERSPAM!!! @jade324 @ginger545 #twitterspam #
heading to z's #
@zefrank - are you all h4

Future comic book reads

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:15:05 -0700

I don't know what it is, but whenever I see Nick blogging, I always feel the need to blog. Nick, do you feel the same way? haha Anyways, my real post: I haven't read any comics in a few days (I finished my weeklies on Saturday) and it's because 1) I'm lazy, 2) My girlfriend is around and 3) I've been way too tired to read (those are in no real order). But I want to let you guys know what I'm looking forward to read that I will (hopefully) be getting too in the near future and will, in turn, blog about. Most of this stuff is just what I've gotten a hold of and just want to read for fun and has no dealings with continuity or major plots or anything. Just fun stuff in vague/very interested sumary: 1. Squadron Supreme/Supreme Power v2 Seeing that I'm a die-hard Marvel Ultimate-universe fan, I need to read this series to get Ultimate Power and the new Squadron Supreme series that just came out. Now, the Squadron Supreme/Supreme Power series that I'm talking is NOT the series that ran into the Avengers way back when, but instead is the series totally off on its own that Marvel decided to have intertwine with their Ultimate universe (which I haven't read yet, so shh!). But I'm really excited for this series. I'm 7 issues in and I have almost everything-except Dr. Spectrum-to read in trade paperback form. It's obviously at the top of my list. 2. Battle Pope I love Robert Kirkman. Seriously. His runs in Ultimate X-Men were effing incredible, but I was drawn to him by his Walking Dead series which just kicks so much ass. Holy shit is it good. On top of that, he is writing Invincible. Holy mother of Thor is that series good. And with that, I have Battle Pope. An apocalypse driven series based around sex, violence and just plain kick-ass-ery. I started this series about a month ago on a whim and gave up as I started to catch up on my weekly comics. What I read was utterly incredible. It had me laughing out loud on the bus as I rode back from work one day and I can't wait to start the series up again. 3. Blade Ever since I saw the Blade movie however long ago, I've wanted to read the Blade comics, especially the most recent series. Since I began reading comics, I've known of Blade but I've never really investigated him enough to truly appreciate him as a character. I know he was working with the Nightstalkers and Dr. Strange back in the day, but I've never really read enough story to really get to know who Blade really is. Yea, that's cheezy, but that's how I ride. Nevertheless, I'm excited to read the 13-issue series Marvel just recently put out and I assume it's going to be great. 4. Y - The Last Man I don't know where or how I heard about this series back when I started collecting it, but I happen to have the whole series (#1-50) and guess what? I'm excited to read this series. The concept of this entire series that only 1 man and his monkey survived this disease that killed the rest of the male population in the world... Now there's a concept I can't get enough of, a man and his monkey. It's a series basis that just makes me laugh and from what I've heard about it it just sounds too surreal to imagine without actually reading. Even still, it's supposed to be an amazing series. You have to love the innovation at Vertigo. 5. Watchmen I know I'm late in the game here-try 20 years late-saying "Oh man! Watchmen!" but even with that, I know any hardcore comic book fan would say to read this series and that's exactly what I plan on doing. Alan Moore is a god-this is obvious-and I plan on doing my worship by reading Watchmen and crying in happiness at how awesome this series is going to be. And that's that. 6. PS238 Again, another series I have no memory of coming across, but my guess is that I stumbled across the tri-weekly page publishing on Aaron Williams' web site via some other site and had to get the rest of the series. The focus of the series is on one little boy who has powers. I don't know more than that, since I haven't even read anything else on it or any of the series. So, it should be cool, as vague of a description as that is. I have the first 25 or so comics, and I'll just go from there. So, remember to click the links provided if you want more information on each of these series' and hopefully you'll start reading too. Tags: comics

Astonishing X-Men #25 -- a reaction/sum-up

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:38:45 -0700

So yesterday I went and bought Astonishing X-Men #25 at my local comic shop. I bought it on my lunch break and didn't have any time to read it yesterday, but this morning on the bus ride to work I managed to squeeze it in. Let me just say (before the jump) that Warren Ellis is amazing and he beats Joss Whedon any fucking day on

Chris Claremont and X-Treme X-Men part 3

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:38:44 -0700

Ah ladies and gents, I'm through issue #18 and that mean another update on my X-Treme X-Men reading. As a reminder, I'm spoiling this series as I talk about my reaction, so watch out (even though the series is about 8 years old). So far I'm having a lot of fun with this series in a sense that Chris Claremont seems to be batshit crazy when it comes to story arcs. Moving from Vargas killing Psylocke to Gambit becoming some tool of inter-dimensional imperialists (with some minor arcs in there -- I'm not following the wikipedia page I'm reading in order of the comics I have #1-46) this series has been pretty good. I really do like Chris Claremont's plots, but, as I've said, he just goes on and on with the narration. I've been meaning to write about this for a while, and let me just say it right now: Warren Ellis pretty much summed up exactly how I feel about writers like Chris Claremont at Wizard World Chicago when he had his late night panel on Friday. He was explaining that sometimes writers don't know when to shut the hell up and let the art tell the story. And it's funny because someone in the crowd actually called out and said "Could you tell Chris Claremont?" I wish I could have been there. Nevertheless, I am enjoying X-Treme X-Men so far because Chris Claremont knows how to write characters like Storm and Bishop very well. Especially Storm in the last 8 issues (#10-18). When reading this last arc that I just finished, you really feel how powerful and beautiful of a woman Storm is, which I think drives a whole reasoning behind the current Black Panther series (well, really the Black Panther series during Civil War) with Storm as the Black Panther's bride and queen. Yet, on top of that, Claremont writes a sappy fucking story, especially between Rogue and Gambit. And yes, I know the story is tragic: two lovers who can never touch but are bonded by this unseen and totally enormous love for each other. Yes, I know the story. It fucking sucks. My favorite character is plagued with love for a woman he can truely never be close to. Even still, Chris Claremont seems to over play this tragedy. It's just small things that I notice in his wording of the dialogue that bothers me with Rogue and Gambit. Nothing too big for most people. haha That aside, the sudden change in the character Lifeguard from being just a mutant to Shi'ar royalty almost seemed too out there. I'm not sure if Claremont is going with that (I assume he is) but it was just way to sudden and really fucking weird to actually be a good plot device. Instead, it feels like a cheap way to make Lifeguard and her brother Slipstream feel even shittier about life... And that's about it... as I said, it's a good series overall so far, but the dialogue (especially for Rogue and Gambit is just way too over dramatic and there's too much of an emphasis on their accents. I'll update you once I get to issue #24 or so. It should be fun until then, I'm sure of it. Damn Chris Claremont for being so easy to hate but so hard to not love. Tags: chris claremont, comics, destroythecyb.org, x-men, x-treme x-men

Astonishing X-Men #25 - This week is gonna be awesome

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:51:49 -0700

Guess what guys? Guess effing what? Astonishing X-Men #25 is coming out this week (7/2/2008), and guess who's excited? ME! Seriously. And you want to know why I'm so excited? Well, let me answer just one more question for you: Because Joss Whedon is no long writing this series. Hell yes! Yea! Yea! Yea! I'm beyond excited and it's because without Joss Whedon, this comic book will (probably) come out on a regular basis and with some sweet storylines because the one and only Warren Ellis taking over meaning that Armor, Beast, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Storm, and Wolverine (the line-up according to cover for this issue) are in for a friggin' show for sure. The amazing Warren Ellis, author of Transmetropolitan, Newuniversal/Newuniversal: Shockfront, and the Extremis arc of Iron Man, is going to be writing Astonishing X-Men and I can only hope for nothing less than an outstanding series with him backing it. The new series titled Astonishing X-Men: Second Stage. It's supposed to be back in the continuity and I couldn't be happier. **spoilers after the break** If you remember, Joss Whedon basically condemned Kitty Pryde to death with the 'bullet' from the Breakworld and everyone was sad. Like near-crying... I mean, everyone, not just me, you know... Really, if Joss Whedon is good for anything it's writing dramatic series' that are real tear-jerkers while still causing a whole mix-up of everything you knew which only leads to good future stories... fucking Joss Whedon... I hate him so much for delaying comics in an enormous way but still love him for writing such good stories... (see also: Runaways). With that said, from what I've read online, this new arc of story is supposed to blow your mind as the team is relocated to San Fransisco (as are all the other X-Men) and everything goes from there. My question is whether or not the Astonishing X-Men story will deal with the Skrulls invasion at all... Take what you wish from that *wink*. All I know is that Warren Ellis is guaranteed to spill some gold with this series, as it should be a tad more mature like the previous arcs and I'm hoping t see some kick ass plots in good ol' California and the like. Obviously I'm excited, and you should be too. Outside of maybe Kick-Ass, I'm banking on this issue being the best comic to be released this month. Tags: astonishing x-men, awesome, comics, destroythecyb.org, excited, joss whedon, marvel, warren ellis, wolverine, x-men

Chris Claremont and X-Treme X-Men part 2

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:50:32 -0700

It's been a while and strangely I didn't get through as many X-Treme X-Men comics as I wanted to since my last blog about this series, but nevertheless, I got to issue #12 and, again, I'm not really impressed. Effing Chris Claremont again turned the series from partially good to bad to pretty awesome to terrible within 6 issues. Really, for a while I was digging the series (say issues #4-7) when all of a sudden, things started to just get blotchy with the story and I was constantly going back a page or two to see what the hell was going on. But what was different than from issues #1-6 than #7-12 is that starting with issue #8 the art was almost as confusing as the dialogue (which Claremont began to use to tell a portion of the story). Although stunning at times, a lot of the art had the characters in very weird angles and positions during fight scenes. A lot I could deal with, but for some parts I was just baffled as to where a character started and began. As for the storytelling, Chris Claremont did exactly as I thought: started a great story and told it poorly. A lot of the plot points in these last 6 issues were mainly jumped right into with no warning. It was kind of confusing, given that I'm used to stories leading up to a plot point rather than just throwing one in. In one issue, the X-team are walking along in a house when on the next page a monster breaks through the floor and Rogue and Gambit are being held up in the air... it's way random and utterly confusing for a new reader. It really makes me wonder how this series kept selling... Even still, Chris Claremont knows how to write an effing good storyline as a whole and I have to give it up to him for that... No spoilers this entry, sorry kids. I'll check back with my next 6 issues or so and let you know what's what... Tags: chris claremont, confusing, destroythecyb.org, rant, x-men, x-treme x-men

The Alkaline Trio, Wizard World Chicago, and Wall-E

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:11:41 -0700

This weekend was pretty much 100% bad ass: I attended an Alkaline Trio concert, had the privilege of going to Wizard World Chicago and meeting Brian Michael Bendis (the whole reason for going to the ordeal) along with doing some other awesome stuff throughout the whole convention, and I saw Wall-E with Dallas.

Sweet right? Well, let me elaborate:

Friday:
I worked my normal schedule until 5pm and met a friend of mine to head to Yesterdog. One hot dog was all I needed from that landmark place in Grand Rapids to be ready to go see The Alkaline Trio. Come 7pm, we were let in the doors of the show and stood around for about a half an hour just goofing around until The Fashion made their way to the stage. They were a psudo-pop-punk band with a strange techno feel that was neither good nor bad, but still a listen. They played a 35-minute set and took off leading straight into the band Bayside. They too had an iffy sound, something along the lines of pop-punk, but a tad slower. My friend Tori was very into them, yet they didn't really hit for me (like a lot of pop-punk bands usually do, if only for a moment). They finished their 45-minute set and after a very boring 35 minute wait, The Alkaline Trio made their way to the stage. Let me tell you, it was fucking incredible. Song after song of perfection and amazing Alkaline Trio-goodness ensued for a little over an hour. They played songs from their last two albums, Crimson, Good Mourning (more notably: "This Could Be Love", "Mercy Me", "Time To Waste" and "This Could Be Love"), a few new songs from their album

Marvel 1985 #2 - Amazing, as expected spoilers

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:51:11 -0700

Just yesterday I blogged about how I thought Marvel 1985 #2 was going to be straight up amazing and boy was I right. Mark Millar is basically taking the 1980s view on comics and printing it frame by frame and word by word in these comics. I seriously love this kind of stuff (see also: Kick-Ass), yet I can't say anything until after the jump, but man-oh-man issue #2 was damn amazing. Last week, we left our main character, Toby, running into the Hulk after discovering that Dr. Doom, The Red Skull, and Mole Man are living in a house formerly owned by his dad's best friend's family. Cool right? Hell yes it is. Continued on, it turns out the Hulk is in his intelligent and green form and is confused as to why he and everyone else is in the universe to which the story takes place (oddly worded, sorry). Either way, ths story moves forward as Toby tells his dad about meeting these characters from the comics and his dad refuses to believe him... I think we'll see more about his dad's knowledge on this subject in the future. As the issue moves on, Toby begins to question whether or not he's sane (as any 13-year-old does) and if the comic books he reads (20 a month) are corrupting his mind. It's kind of clever. Even still, I don't want to give away all of this issue, I just thought I'd say it ends in a pretty cool manner and definitely leaves you wanting issue #3 in the baddest of ways. Thanks Mark Millar. You are a god amongst men. Tags: awesome, comics, mark millar, marvel 1985

Today is all a buzz

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:51:11 -0700

All over the net I'm seeing 3 things:

Fix your speakers buzzing from your iPhone by making a shield out of a red bull can [link]
- (turns out this is bullshit -- I believe it's a fake at least)
iTunes 7.7 to come with a remote control application for the iPhone and iPod Touch [link]
Twitter replies being down is destroying the world [link]

And here on my comments on said 3 things:

I guess that's cool. Or maybe just move your iPhone away from your computer... but really the idea is okay, but not ALL OVER THE NET blog-worthy.
A free app from Apple? Fuck yea bizzitches. I'd like to see a good app come out for free from Apple. I'm hoping come July 11 that Apple has a bunch of cool little apps to better your life like this iTunes remote.
Now, I know A LOT OF PEOPLE use twitter to communicate and especially through replies, but it's not the end of the world. The twitter team is obviously working on improving the site overall and reworking the replies functionality is, as expected, a big part of the site that also needs to be rewritten/updated and such. It'll be back soon, so don't you worry.

Hopefully some cool stuff will show up tomorrow on the net... or maybe I'll have to write something cool for once... and get on some blogs and shiiit...

(Damn it all I'm tired and delerious.)

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An AppleScript to turn the brightness of your laptop display on/off

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:28 -0700

Yesterday at work, Eric was asking me if I knew of a way to immediately make the screen of his MacBook go straight to off (0 brightness). The only way I could think of doing such a thing was just holding down the button to dim the brightness or perhaps via AppleScript. He, of course, didn't want to just hold down the brightness key, and asked me to write an AppleScript to be triggered via QuickSilver to turn the brightness off and then back on.

And of course, there was a way to do it via AppleScript.

So, after much searching and reading on various sites (I forget them all or I would definitely credit them) here is what I got:

Link to brightnesskiller code

Now, what the code here does is simply this:

First, it checks to see if "TextEdit" is open, sets a boolean accordingly, then checks to see if the logfile "brightness-.txt" exists in your Documents folder and sets another boolean accordingly. Next, it opens System Preferences and opens the Displays pane. Using very dirty code, it grabs the current brightness level and stores it into 'brightness'. It checks to see if 'brightness' is over 0 then it sets your display brightness to 0 and follows that by storing 'brightness' into the logfile "brightness-.txt". But if your brightness is at 0, then it opens up "brightness-.txt" and reads the value it previously had stored and sets your display to that value.

This all of course assumes that you've used this script when your display was on or had a brightness greater than 0. But other than that works pretty well.

In case you didn't want to create the script/application, I've bundled a .scpt and .app of this script into a zip file which can be downloaded by following this link:

brightnesskiller.app & brightnesskiller.scpt

Feel free to modify it and such so long as you give me some kind of credit in the code (I leave a claiming comment at the top). I hope someone finds some use out of it.

-Edit: 06/04/2008 3:45PM-

Found an error with my original code. Made a small update. Check the source ^^

Tags: applescript, blog, code, fun, mac os x, work

Wisdom teeth removal and me

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:27 -0700

Today I had my wisdom teeth pulled... all four of them. Lucky for me, the top two came out without any real problems. Unlucky for me, the bottom two were impacted and hurt like someone forced a steel rod into my mouth blindly and hit the back of my mouth.

It kind of sucks.

So last night I made my way over to my family's house and ended up eating a grilled ham and cheese with my dad as we watched the first game of the NBA playoffs-which is very out of character of me, but was nevertheless pretty fun. (There were like 6 comic book-based movie commercials on... kind of cool)

I woke up this morning at 9:45am-my appointment was at 10:30am-took a quick shower and made a hustle to drive with my mom to the oral surgen's office. We got there in time and I went straight in for surgery. Strangely enough i went into a regular room (not like an O.R. or anything) and sat down. The nurse who led me there took my blood pressure and then the doctor showed up and we were off. A needle in my arm, followed by some kind of anesthetic had me passed out in seconds.

The next thing I know, I'm being walked out of the office and my mouth feels like someone took a hammer to it.

I get home (I don't remember driving back) and I have a McDonalds shake in my hand and I'm trying to swallow the shake... that didn't go to well. My whole front of my jaw (from my bottom lip down to my chin) is numb and I can't feel the shake dripping all the way down my face... So I decided to put some gauze in my mouth to catch all the blood take a nap.

I slept on my side (not thinking) and woke up and I found my whole face covered in a very gross blood and spit mixture on my cheek and on my pillow. It was gross. So I changed my gauze, tried some water-which worked much better given that I thought to close my mouth and lean my head back to swallow the water-and layed down to watch Scrubs.

Since I woke up from my nap, I've been lounging around my house attempting to eat food (ice cream, macaroni & tomatoes, and other soft foods) between reading comics and nearly falling asleep. It's been fun. Luckily, my mom had some Ranchero Tomato soup by Campbells which fucking hit the spot.

And my night has been a fun ride given that I've had Vicodin to keep my pain down and to carry me like a cloud.

I'm hoping tomorrow is better and that I can start to eat some semi-solid foods..

Tags: blood, drool, fun ride, gauze, grilled cheese, lounge, McDonalds, more blood, perscription drugs, ranchero tomato soup, sleep, spit, surgery, tired, widsom teeth

My frame by frame day

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:27 -0700

Filmed using Gawker.

Background music by: audiobytes for autobots

Tags: facial expressions, frame by frame, gawker, other, random, work

I think I'm going to get an iPhone

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:26 -0700

Given yesterday's presentation of the new 3G iPhone and my need to be a flippin' Mac fanboy (yea, whatev.), I'm pretty sure I'm going to get an iPhone. Pretty sure... The price dropped to $300 for the 16GB model (the same amount of space as my iPod Touch) and it looks like smooth sailing to me.

Now, I need to do 2 things:

1. Sell my iPod Touch.
2. Start saving cash.

So, to all who are reading, if you would like to buy a used 16GB iPod Touch, please let me know. I'm selling this thing for $200. Here's what you get:

16GB iPod Touch (somewhat scratched-I can post pictures if you wish)
iPod Touch Box with original documents and cleaning cloth (missing the little plastic stand, I think)
iPod connector (slightly worn)
iPod headphones (slightly worn)
Jailbroken (if you want)

On top of selling my iPod, I'm offering my services to build/develope websites. I'm very familiar and willing

Radon-a super fast browser (quickie review)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:26 -0700

Got word on a new browser from someone on twitter... I don't follow them, but Dallas does and I happened to glance at her computer as she was on Twitter and saw he/she mentioned it... so sorry for not giving credit...

Nevertheless,

Tweet2Win

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:25 -0700

http://www.tweet2win.com/

Check that out. Tweet this URL to enter yourself in the drawing!

(I'm blogging to increase my chances! Yea!)

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A cool AppleScript to resize your wallpaper

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:19:25 -0700

I'm a total wallpaper whore. Seriously. I have nearly 1GB of wallpapers (766MB) and I need them to work with my MacBook completely. In order to scale a mass amount of wallpapers at a time, I was trying all sorts of methods to do so... Photoshop, Automator, Skitch, and a few other programs until I ran across some information almost a year and a half ago about the Image modifying tools built into Mac OS X. After some reading up on some AppleScript how-tos and browsing some forums I started to work on my original imageresize.scpt and for a while it worked for me.

The original concept was to just scale the images and move the original files to the trash then have me move the modified files to my wallpaper folder, and it did just that, plan and simple. But given my need to make things more and more complicated to make life easier and less complicated I decided to take my AppleScripting to the next level.

What my AppleScript now does is scales the images you drag onto it, moves them to a specific folder based on the month (I seriously have a ton of wallpapers and need to sort them by month...), then moves the original image to another folder. From how I see it, I may want the original image at some point...

To get things set up, download one of the two versions below (or copy the source, it's up to you), and then drag your pictures you wish to resize to the .app version of the imageresize/imageresize-original script and it will do the rest (as I described above).

So, given how happy I am with my new AppleScript, I thought I'd offer it to everyone... hell, I'll even offer my original AppleScript for those who just want to scale an image and delete the original.

Source of imageresize <- the new one that moves files and such

Download imageresize.app and imageresize.scpt as a ZIP

Source of imageresize-original <- the old one that deletes the original file and such

Download imageresize-original.app and imageresize.scpt as ZIP

I hope you can enjoy and find as much of use of these AppleScripts as I do...

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions in the comments!

-Mike

Tags: apple, applescript, GTD, image resizing, mac, mac os x, scripting, source, wallpaper

MikeRapin

Twitter Updates for 2008-07-16

This week: Amazing Spider-Man #566

Twitter Updates for 2008-07-15

Supreme Power #1-12

Twitter Updates for 2008-07-14

Future comic book reads

Astonishing X-Men #25 -- a reaction/sum-up

Chris Claremont and X-Treme X-Men part 3

Astonishing X-Men #25 - This week is gonna be awesome

Chris Claremont and X-Treme X-Men part 2

The Alkaline Trio, Wizard World Chicago, and Wall-E

Marvel 1985 #2 - Amazing, as expected **spoilers**

Today is all a buzz

An AppleScript to turn the brightness of your laptop display on/off

Wisdom teeth removal and me

My frame by frame day

I think I'm going to get an iPhone

Radon-a super fast browser (quickie review)

Tweet2Win

A cool AppleScript to resize your wallpaper

Marvel 1985 #2 - Amazing, as expected spoilers