I'm Actually Working (But Not Right This Instant)

A Belated Very Happy Birthday to lordshiva!!

Mystery of the street holes solved! Yesterday, PG&E finally started pipe replacement work, threading bright yellow plastic piping through the drilled holes with a nifty (if noisy) machine called a "Ditch Witch." Hopefully the headache-inducing pounding part was over yesterday; we'll see.

Street Sightem: on my morning coffee run, was walking behind two local cops on the street (thirtyish-looking Asian men), and happened to notice that they had cute little stickers applied to their gun butts (presumably to personalize them?). Cop #1, on the right, the Sanrio character Baditz Maru. On #2, on the left, a sticker of that little cat character with that raised paw that you tend to see posted at the entrances of Japanese restaurants. Repeat: on their gun butts. I'm still trying to decide if that's adorable or a little disturbing. Let's go with adorable.

Superman, the Malleable Metaphor: Thanks to Tikkun.org for the reminder that Superman was a Jewish immigrant, like the two men who created him in the 1930s. Good to remember that sometimes those free-floating symbols we all take for granted were actual stories created by actual people who actually had a point, once upon a time, and it's not always - or should I say, almost never - the same as the modern interpretation. (Check out the early Max Fleischer cartoons if you want to see Superman fighting corrupt industrialists and other social ills and enemies of the poor and disenfranchised.)

Although, in a way, I'm not surprised at the reworking of the character in Superman Returns - after all, comics have been rewriting Superman for nearly 75 years. And if it's almost impossible in today's America to visualize a point of view in which this country is a Promised Land destination instead of an imperiled nation in need of saving? Says a lot. (Although, you know, the world of superheroes already has a character who was sent as an ambassador from paradise - Paradise Island, in fact! - to show us a better way of life: Wonder Woman.)

Fic Rec: Joining the chorus in recommending More Conversations With Dead People by confusedkayt. An immediate followup to BtVS S7 dealing with the machinations of The First. No, things weren't wrapped up neatly in "Chosen" after all. And general thumbs-up all around to the recent work of st_salieri, who consistently blows my mind with neat things. (Now, if only I had more time to read more stuff and write more comments, argh! The leadup to writercon is going to be one hectic week, work wise.)

Saturday Morning Surreality: Finally, I give you H.R. Pufnstuf. And if that didn't blow your mind enough, the intro to the Krofft Supershow, featuring Wonderbug, Dr. Shrinker, and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Yes, I'm going through a second childhood.