Tour de Dust...

Back from Seattle, I now turn around and head to Georgia for a few day's vacation. My travel season is almost to an end. It will be good to be home.
It's still over 100 degrees here (it was 72 in Seattle) and the birds on my feeders are feeling the heat. But as fortune smiles, I have finally won the war against the ants. For weeks, my hummingbird feeders were swarmed by ants, who basically destroyed the rubber tips of the feeders, thus ruining them. So I bought a new feeder. The ants returned. So I bought little ant traps, the kind that "ants are attracted to the bait, and carry it back to the nest, killing the entire nest guaranteed!" The ants returned again. I turned to an aerosol pesticide and sprayed over 70 of them in one sitting. Still they returned, going in and out of the ant traps with little effect. My hummingbirds couldn't drink because the little drink holes had ants going in and out, and the liquid holder was full of drowned ants. Then, one day, the ants were gone. I haven't seen one for 3 days now. Perhaps the traps worked? Perhaps they gave up? Or maybe they performed a strategic fall-back and plan to regroup with larger numbers. Either way, peace has returned to the porch. Nature is back to the imbalance of my favor, with one part of the ecosystem wiped out. Now the hummingbirds have returned, and can now feed and fight each other to the death.
More when I return.

That which does not kill us...

...makes us stranger!

Vote Know...

Please take a moment to participate in our poll, located to the far right of your screen. Your honesty is important to us, and the voting will close on Sept. 1st.

Thank you.

-Official Rumors staff

The Price is Fright...

I've been watching Vincent Price movies that I've recently taped. He's a "fabulous" guy, if you catch what I'm sayin'. I think I'm going to invite him to do some guest spots on my radio show. I know what you're thinking: he's dead. You don't know Vincent Price very well, do you?

Radio, radio...

I'm off to Seattle in a couple of days! It'll be fun, but it will be far greater to just be home for awhile. So, if I had my own radio show that could be listened to over the internet, would you support me? I'd like to call it either "Post-Modern Prometheus" or "B-side Bistro." I'm submitting a format application to 89.9 WEVL in Memphis, which is a public-supported station that welcomes variety and obscurity. Hope it goes through, as this is a big piece of the puzzle for me.
More upon my return. Thanks for all the great comments everyone has left here in my absence.

Travellin'...

I'm on the road to Indy and Seattle this week. Almost done with my travel season, which is good because I have a lot of stuff I want to do at home. See you all when I return.

I am Jack's smirking revenge...

There's a list you want to be on, and a list you don't.

We are open...

The Official Rumors Curiosity Shoppe is now open for business. Go buy some stuff. It's probably stuff you need anyway, except now you can show your blog loyalty on it! The URL is to the right of your screen, under 'Links.'

I'll be putting more image options up later.

108 degrees...

That was the heat index yesterday. Today should be just as bad. It's too hot to go to the pool even. I watched a bug fall out of the sky in mid-flight (not sure if it was a heat-related death or just his time to go) so I'm staying indoors as much as possible. This gives me the opportunity to finally finish a project: Official Rumors merchandise! That's right, soon (wait for my signal) you'll be able to get high-quality merchandise to show your loyalty to this blog! Stay tuned. I promise it'll be worth it.

I make toy soldiers...

How hard can it possibly be?

"You
Soft and only
You
Lost and lonely
You
Strange as angels
Dancing in the deepest oceans
Twisting in the water
You're just like a dream"

Lomo arigato...

This photo was taken from friend-of-a-friend, Meryl, who is a fellow Akronite. The weapon of choice is a Lomo camera, something I've wanted for a while but keep forgetting about. It's time I got a new hobby, and this might just be it. Aside from the wonky effects it has based on its design, I really love the history of the camera itself. Go read it somewhere. (Sexy note: I do have a Photoshop action that will put a Lomo effect on any image of my choosing. While this is awesome, it excludes the experience of really taking the photo the way it was meant to be taken. Cool plug-in, though).

Thanks to S for the new Interpol (a proper thank you call is pending, I promise) and to D and B for one of the best dinners ever. It really was a good birthday, as Jenn put into perspective for me yesterday. I was also told that birthdays should be a week-long celebration, and if that's the case, mine would end on a great note this friday, when I get to go scootering with the girls!

Birthday!

Today is my Birthday!

Gravy for Baby...

For Markian...
( I promise I'm near the end of my youtube kick).

Nature is ancient...

I'm leaving you with a music video this week.

Happy Birthday...

Happy birthday to Nina, my dad, Millhouse, Sher-bear, Tiffeny and anyone I may have overlooked. This week, I'll be driving to Ohio for another convention, visiting my sister along the way.

Pork Chop Sandwiches...

Girl from Glasgow...

I think this chick has it! This is Miss Yoshi, but she lives in Scotland. She's covering Echo & the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon."

40 hours...

For most people, 40 hours is a full week's worth of work. For me, it was 4 days in a van driving to and from Philadelphia. That's one long-ass van ride. And with all the people and all the luggage, that's a cramped van ride as well. The occasion was, once again, work. Wizard World is a big comic/media show, and as with all shows, people like to dress in costume. Now most of the costumes were amazing: characters that looked like they walked off the set of Star Wars and whatnot. Some dudes dressed as transformers, ninjas, Jedi, belly dancers, G.I. Joe characters... the list went on. Then there was old gay Spiderman. This guy had a skin-tight, form-fitting Spiderman costume that looked like it was (at one time) movie quality. But there were loose threads hanging everywhere, and this costume may have been form-fitting when he was 10 years younger and 100 pounds lighter. Nowadays, it was REALLY form-fitting!
You can thank me later for not posting a photo.

Balance...

The word "balance" has seven letters. It is hard to divide evenly. Division has its pros and cons.

Some words before bedtime...

One eye goes laughing,
One eye goes crying
Through the trials and trying of one life
One hand is tied,
One step gets behind
In one breath we're dying