A Cooper's Hawk waits on a tree near my bird feeder today. As much as I wanted this hawk to eat, I didn't want him to grab one of the black-capped chickadees or cardinals. They were smart enough to stay away today.

Click on these links to learn more: Wikipedia on the Cooper’s Hawk  and  Cooper’s Hawk  

Durante el pasado fin de semana se celebró en París con total éxito el Quiksilver Tony Hawk Show. Para ello la compañía invitó a una enorme representación de los medios internacionales del sector y Dogway estuvo allí para contártelo. Haremos un completo reportaje que pronto llegará a vuestras manos a través de las páginas de nuestra revista, pero hemos querido hacer un avance online y que así os podáis hacer a la idea de lo que aconteció en el Grand Palais parisino durante el evento. Los que aceptasteis nuestra invitación y seguisteis el evento a través de Quiksilverlive.com, ya sabréis que tanto el campeonato de street como las demos de vert, como Tony Hawk Show en si mismo, estuvieron cargados de trucos increibles y momentos emocionantes. Los que no lo visteis a través de la red, tendréis la mencionada segunda oportunidad en nuestra revista y desde este momento os decimos que el evento fue tan increible como se nos venía anunciando.

Además de la expedición del equipo de Dogway, también se acercaron hasta allí los tras ganadores del concurso Quiksilver Skate In Vision que se hizo en Dogwaymedia.com, así que compartimos la estancia con el fotógrafo Roberto Alegría, el patinador Ibón Mariño y el ganador del concurso Urko Merikaetxebarria. El resultado ha sido un fin de semana de skate memorable. Pronto sabreis más.

Parmanece atento.

Beautiful day!  Skies are clear, very little wind; temperatures are mild, in the mid fifties.

 Uriah was the first to notice the farm equipment pull into the field next door. He freaked! He climbed on the deck and cowered on the north side, farthest way from the equipment. 

The corn in the southern field was finally being  harvested. I stood outside and watched as the large tractor moved slowly into place. I could see the farmer in the cab and a child.

Farmer’s children will help them with the harvesting.  They watch for problems as their parent harvests the crops.The cab they sat in was sealed, heated and air-conditioned.

The winds were blowing away from me, so as the tractor passed by most of the dust spread out to the south.

Just as I thought, “Wow,  I am lucky the wind isn’t blowing in this direction.” The wind changed!  I started coughing, and blinking rapidly as the dust settled in over my head.

I choked out Uriah’s name and we headed towards the path to take a walk. The trees in that area blocked some of the harvesting dust. Well, sort of..

I crossed my fingers that the farmer would only be working on the lower part of the field at this time. I smiled, when I saw him hit the half way point near the drainage tiles and turn around.

 Uriah and I stopped sneezing long enough to watch the harvester.

With all the bare fields, the animals have been congregating in our trees. Last night, every hour, I was yelling out the doors for the coyotes to leave. There must have been close to a dozen howling and yelping very close to the house.

Coyotes don’t understand windows.  So, I had to insure the indoor cats stayed away from the glass. I really didn’t have to worry; they hid under the bed when the howling started.

Uriah, on the other hand, was whining and barking wanting to chase them. A dog barking won’t keep coyotes away from the house. It has the opposite effect. So, between trying to calm down Uriah, petting the cats and yelling at the coyotes, it was a fun night.

Halfway through the walk, Uriah disappeared with hackles raised, into the trees. Stupidly I walked in after him, calling and getting tangled in leafless under brush. After a short time, I headed back to the house. When Uriah reappeared  his tongue was trailing on the ground.  

The farmer took a lunch break and finished the back half of the field; I stood out on the deck and enjoyed the view.

This scene has to be a little boy’s dream.  A large tractor harvesting corn slowly chopping, crunching, and roaring through a field, as an equally large dump truck waits to be filled with the corn; such an impressive, unobstructed view of a real mid-western farm life.  

I love it out here.

It’s Sunday and I find myself totally uninspired. Not sure whether it’s the incredible amount of space my brain is devoting to the Harlequin Horizon fiasco. You want more links? More? Well, you get the idea.

This thing is all over the web. It’s a bit like seeing a train wreck (or perhaps 2012) you want to look away, but you just can’t.

Also, yesterday was a big day in College football. Ohio State v. Michigan (completely mixed loyalties here since my husband is teaching at OSU and my son is attending Michigan). And Oregon v. Arizona. Ducks win! Ducks win! One step closer to the Rose Bowl.

I did go for a walk yesterday, but didn’t take my camera. Wouldn’t you know it–a large hawk flew past me. I swear he was not more than 12 feet away from me as he swooped down, then up into a tree. This was in the middle of the OSU campus. I thought my eyes must be playing tricks. Had to be a pigeon right?

I stopped and checked him out, perched up in that tree. Definitely some kind of hawk. I am not a birder–so don’t know the specific type. But big and gorgeous he was. He might have been this broad-winged hawk.

He definitely did not look like this red-tailed hawk. But this is a cool picture, isn’t it?

If seeing the hawk couldn’t inspire me, I’m guessing nothing can. I’ll be back next week with a new haiku. Maybe something full of thanks. In the meantime, feel free to jump in with a hawkish, birdie or up in the treetops haiku of your own. Seventeen syllables on three lines. Forget the rest of the rules and set your words free to soar!

Its mid-morning, pale baby blue sky, painted with wisps of white clouds, the air is no longer cold, just cool. On the path the grass is about three inches tall and it shimmered in the morning light. Drew drops were everywhere, glinting along the gnarled fence post, to slipping slowly off bare branches.

If I had to describe this morning with one word, it would be ‘peaceful.’

I watched a family of Blue Jays glide noiselessly through the trees to the North. When I was spotted, a single long whistle announced me as trouble. Very similar to the whistle I use to call for Uriah. I whistled back at the bird, smiled and moved on.

I snapped my fingers at Uriah, and we headed for the path. Uriah ran in circles and headed into up the incline to the south, the scent he caught was over powering to him. He had to find it! He didn’t… I could smell a faint a faint musky order it lingered over the damp ground. I knew the animal was no longer here. Finally, Uriah figured that out and came back to me; immediately he pushed off in the opposite direction when a new smell caught his attention.

 A Red-tailed Hawk screeched in the trees to the north. His call reverberated in the morning air. Blue Jays answered with their danger whistle and the Hawk screeched back at them.

Both are extremely beautiful birds. The bright blue of the  Jays and the intense pride of the hawk, for me, their voices carried the soul of the land.

That may sound corny. Yes! But standing here listening, takes me back to my grandmother’s house, and brought me peaceful feel to the day, to this moment.

Peace is more than a word, a thought, or a phrase. It is a way of living. In nature, animals come together to drink from the same pond without killing each other. Just for the sake of replenishing their thirst…?  Or, is it more than that?

Nature is calling out today! With the same whistles, growls, screeches and yelps as yesterday. A peaceful coexistence, caught in a split second where I can connect with the land.

Tomorrow may rage a storm so severe the trees could be ripped up from their roots. This moment of peace, this moment is all I have right now. I am enjoying it immensely.

I have been playing with acrostic poetry.

 Peace

Place yourself within nature

Embrace your creative arc

Actualize your personal Mecca

Confidence regained in solitude

Enliven a past friendship

Picture from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_hawk

Im Rahmen einer Ausstellung an der FH Hildesheim, genauer an der Fakultät Gestaltung, in der Design- & Kunstobjekte der Studenten gezeigt werden, ist mir ein Designobjekt ganz besonders aufgefallen:

Endlich mal Kunst, die wirklich alltagstauglich ist.
Leider war der Name des Designers/Künstlers nicht vermerkt.

Los Alamos Police Chief Wayne Torpy discusses the accident with the county's transportation chief Kyle Zimmerman. The silver Chevrolet Avalanche is seen in between the LAPD Incident Command Center and the Atomic City Transit bus in which the boy exited just before 6 p.m. today. Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

A 12-year-old Los Alamos boy stepped off an Atomic City Transit bus and into the path of an oncoming vehicle shortly before 6 p.m. today.

The youth walked in front of the bus and into a Chevrolet Avalanche driving in the left lane on San Ildefonso Road at Hawk near Los Alamos Middle School.

The impact from the vehicle, driven by an adult male, lifted the boy out of his tennis shoes.

Lt. Chuck Ney said the youth suffered head and other injuries.

He was air lifted to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque, Ney said.

The accident is under investigation and it is not known at this time whether the driver will be charged.

Read the full story in the Los Alamos Monitor.

Police tape sections off the Chevrolet Avalanche involved in the accident that injured a 14-year-old Los Alamos boy attempting to cross San Ildefonso Road early this evening. Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

Chief Wayne Torpy working inside the Incident Command Center. Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

Photo by Carol A. Clark/Monitor

]]> http://thecuckoos.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/cautionary-tale/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:17:41 +0000 Le Rique http://thecuckoos.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/cautionary-tale/

The UK version of a poster promoting the movie ” Couples Retreat” has come under fire for removing the black couple.

The couple, actors Love and Hawk, are present in the US version (albeit all the way in the back..against a dark background)

However in the UK version they are nowhere to be seen…

In response to the public outcry, a spokesman for Universal stated that the poster intended “to simplify the poster to actors who are most [recognizable] in international markets.”

The studio has since issued a statement of apology and regretted any offense it may have caused. [Yahoo]

The winds had picked up from this morning’s slight breeze, into a dust blowing, eye tearing, corn leaves whirling mess of a wind.   Instead of coming in from the west, the winds are whipping around from the east blowing into the west.

For me, that means everything is being blown down the driveway out onto the road, and then sprinting across the miles of open farm fields.

With this type of wind I can’t think when I’m outside. My hair is going every which way, and sound is indistinguishable.

I called to Uriah, who was running in a circle with his hackles up. I pointed towards the path. He looked up. Then he looked down, and headed into the trees.

I shook my head at him, and started to walk on the muddy path.  The night before Raccoons must have stayed up all night pooping. They had deposited load, after load on the path for me to step in. Slipping on the mud, I maneuvered carefully forward.

I could hear Uriah  as he crashed through the underbrush to my left. He came running out in front of me and stopped.

I looked up. It wasn’t Uriah, but a coyote, bigger than  Uriah, longer and taller, not fatter. This guy was slender.  His coat was gold, beige, and light brown. His fur stuck out at odd angles and he blended in perfectly with the tall dried grass around me.

If he had stayed quietly off the path, hidden in the trees and grass, I would never have noticed him. Except this beautiful guy had been hunting, and even now had his paw on a rodent. He stood frozen. 

Simultaneously we both noticed that there was only about a twelve inches between us. He turned his head slowly, with a look of, “Duh!”  He let his prey go!  Turned slowly away from me and raced up the path with his tail between his legs.

I just stood there, one foot still held in mid-stride. I had been taking a step when he ran out of the grass; I finished the movement, and stepped down.

Right on a pile of raccoon scat! You can guess what I said…

 When I continued walking the coyote was already out of sight.

At that moment Uriah came charging up behind me, fur upright, growling, sniffing the ground then headed off in the same direction the coyote had ran, north. I decided to walk to the south.  I could hear Uriah, as he huffed and puffed in the trees.

I headed back to the house. Uriah came up behind me, he looked very tired with his tongue dragging and a defeated look on his furry face. 

Coyotes have never bothered me on my walks and I have seen many of them. I’m not worried, I am not coyote food. They eat rodents, and small animals. Uriah is too big to be eaten, and too slow to catch them.

Raccoons on the other hand are dangerous, they will attack a human. They are also irritating buggers.

I grabbed a stick and started  to  clean my shoes!

 “Vernon Hills police” site –“Coyote Information”

“The name “coyote” (Latin name Canis Iatrans) comes from the Aztec word coyotl, which is loosely translated as “trickster”. Other names for the animal are brush wolf, swift wolf, prairie wolf and burrowing dog. The animal is in close relation to the wolf, fox and domesticated dog.”

http://www.vernonhills.org/thingsyoushouldknow/TheCoyote.asp#Description

Picture of coyote

http://www.weforanimals.com/free-pictures/wild-animals/coyotes/coyote-1.htm

I had two interesting sightings here on the unfarm yesterday. One was cool, and the other one was a bit strange, although somewhat appropriate given that it was Halloween, I suppose.

First – while working at the computer in the bunny room, I happened to look out the window and noticed a bird perched on the end of our deck. The fact that it was so close to the house, and just perching there, warranted closer investigation so I stood up to get a better view. Upon more careful study I determined that our visitor was a hawk. I know that we have hawks in the area – red-tails and sharp-shinned hawks – but red tails are usually only spotted circling the area, never just sitting out in the open. And the sharp-shinned hawks are even more elusive – they are a smaller hawk that hunts in forested areas, preying on smaller songbirds. You might have them around and never know it because they tend to stick to the trees and stay under cover. In fact, we never even knew we had sharp-shinned hawks around until a few years ago when we discovered one dead in our blueberry bushes. It had, apparently, hit the window in the dining room and then either landed or fell into the blueberries nearby.

(The dining room window is notoriously treacherous for birds because of the way the house was laid out – the dining room is open to the living room which has a large, three panel sliding glass door leading out to the balcony. This lets in lots of light, but it also means that when a bird is flying around outside, it can see straight through the house, in the dining room window and out the glass door, so it will sometimes try to fly through, not realizing there is glass in the way. We even bought a bunch of those stickers that are designed to make birds realize they’re about to run into a window, and placed them all over the window and door, but they still occasionally run into it.)

Back to our visitor, I determined eventually that it is most likely a sharp-shinned hawk due to it’s smallish size and coloration, which I studied in our bird book. It sat there on a piece of firewood for several minutes, during which I was able to get a couple pictures of it with my zoom lens on my camera, before eventually flying off.

The second sighting did not actually occur on the unfarm, but near it, in the pasture across the street. My brother and I had gone in to look for apples to pick, but didn’t find any. I don’t know if it was just a bad year for apples (which I’ve heard) or if the horses or deer got to the apples before we did.

At any rate, without apples weighing us down, we decided to go check out the progress on the beaver dam. I never actually manage to spot the beaver but he has definitely left evidence of his presense in the area. What used to be a small stream flowing through a forested area is now two small lakes, separated by a pretty sturdy little dam, in an open area. He has, so far, taken down probably 15 trees – at the very least – ranging from small, thin trees with trunks only a few inches around, to maples that were a good foot or two around.

Having inspected the beaver dam and having no luck spotting the actual beaver, we decided to explore further up the valley to see if we could find a path into the forested green space above our house. As kids, we spent hours upon hours in the forest, making trails, hiking, building forts and “campfires” (that never actually hosted any real fire) and exploring around. So we set out, moving through the mud and blackberries and came to a small clearing not far from the beaver dam which is where I came upon the second discovery for the day.

A large – extremely large – dead pig, which someone had attempted to “cover” with a few clumps of weeds, pulled up and spread over the top of the pig. It was a massive animal, and probably had only been dead a couple of days, judging from the lack of any significant decay or numbers of insects. I think what must have happened is that the owners; a family who lives down the street from us who keep geese, horses, pigs, and – several years ago – a large quantity of “meat rabbits;” must have walked the pig down to the lower pasture and out of reach of the horses (pig tracks indicated that it walked at some point, and pigs are not allowed out in the pasture), shot and killed it, and then tried to cover the body to some degree with plants. Not very well, obviously, but I don’t think they planned on anyone walking around down there. (Disclaimer: I do NOT condone the shooting of animals, even farm animals, for any reason – humane euthanization is the least someone can do for an ailing or dying animal.)

All in all, it was an eventful day here on the unfarm – but then, with 13 animals, including ducks that wear diapers and sleep in the house at night – when is it not an eventful day on the unfarm?

JEEMUTHAVAHAN
In those days, snakes used to talk.
Jeemuthavahan saw  a mother snake weeping .
What is the matter, Maji? he asked.
Today, it is the turn of my only son, to go to the top of the hill and await Garuda. You know he is too cute and I will not live after his death, said the mother snake.
After hearing their representations, Vishnu, whose vehicle the hawk named Garud is, agreed to their suggestion that, every day they will offer one snake to Garud; he should not pick at random any snake, as was his habit.

So ich weis gar nicht ob sie es schon wussten, aber ich schau mir ja hin und wieder mal einen Film an!

Doch die Auswahl der Filme, die man sich in der heutigen Zeit anschauen kann, ist ja leider nicht mehr so überschaubar. Es gibt viel Filme, verdammt viele Filme und es werden bekanntlich immer mehr.

Ein Film, oder besser 2 Filme, die immer wieder auf Listen mit den besten Filmen aller Zeiten auftauchen sind, Scarface von 1932 (Howard Hawks) und Scarface von 1983 (Brain De Palma).

Um nicht lange um den Brei herum zu reden, sage ich es schnell, kurz, und knapp, Scarface mit Al Pacino aus dem Jahr 1983 ist scheiße.

Nun sollte wohl klar sein welchen der beiden Filme ich besser finde.
Nichts gegen Al Pacino, der aus dem Film wohl noch alles rausholt was man raus holen kann und auch nichts gegen die Idee, dass Thema eines aufstrebenden Mafia-Bosses, von den 30er in die 80er Jahre, zu holen, aber die Umsetzung ist doch wohl, im Vergleich zum Original echt scheiße geworden.

Als der Film ( S. v. 1983), mit der Thematik der Kubanischen Flüchtlingswelle anfing, habe ich echt noch gedacht, dass dieser Film eine komplett andere Handlung hat, doch die Parallelen zu der Version aus den 30er, die von Anfang an immer markanter werden, lassen nur noch den Schluss zu, es handelt sich nur um einen wirklich schlecht gemachten Remake!

Also wer Scarface sehen will und es noch nicht getan hat, der sollte sich unbedingt Howard Hawks Film anschauen. Wer jedoch mehr auf eine schlecht dargestellte Story abzielt und weniger Wert auf Handlung legt, aber statt dessen ein bisschen mehr von blutiger Action sehen will, der sollte sich die Version mit Al Pacino ansehen. Wer sich selbst ein Bild machen will, kann natürlich auch beide Filme anschauen, lohnenswert ist dies allemal und dazu, auch ein guter Zeitvertrieb für kalte dunkle Winterabende.

Peace and Love

Davy

A red-tailed hawk surveys the rugged Tucson Mountains atop a saguaro cactus.

Beautiful hawk on an early morning flight.

Some of the pictures from my trip to Andover Hawk Conservancy a mouth or so ago.

More pictures coming soon! Had a wedding yesterday, went very well despite the crazy wind and rain! Had to take nearly all of the pictures indoors. Got some really good shots and will share some of my favourites once I have sorted through them all!

Andy

Oh, sweet leaping Christ! Can this be true?

Never thought I’d live to see the day.

Gina?

Is that really you?

Well, get over here and give me a hug, then. You look like shit, girl.

You wasn’t here when those helicopter guys got here, were you?

They didn’t hurt you, did they?

What?

Holy Christ!

Every one of ‘em?

God damn it!

God damn it, I wish I could bring those sons of bitches back to life, just so I could kill ‘em again!

Twice!

No, three times!

A hundred times!

All right, all right!

I’m calm now.

Get your goddamned hands off me, Hawk.

I’m calm now.

I just can’t believe somebody could do such a thing to such a sweet kid, is all.

By the way, Hawk? Wil? Kids?

This here’s my niece, Gina.

Did you know that there’s a lot of Blackest Night comics that I haven’t reviewed?  I mean… really.  I guess it’s time to play catch up on our fun mega event of DC.

There’s a lot of zombie bashing both positive and negative after the click.

So, the first batch of miniseries tying around the Blackest Night event ended within the last couple of weeks.

I have to say that really… it wasn’t too much of a success.  Sure, some parts were nice like seeing Deadman for a bit… and then not… and then having Dove suddenly becoming a surprising (even to herself) player in the event.  But, overall, it just didn’t all flow to me.  I think part of it was just that it was all too ridiculous for me. 

Batman was a big stupid stupid fest of stupidness in the last issue where The Flying Graysons and Tim Drake’s dad recreate their deaths in an incredibly elaborate way to get some sort of emotions out of the Big B and Red R.  Then, the whole Mr. Freeze gun/last ditch effort to hide themselves from the Black Lanterns was way too contrived.

Superman was just a big brawl fest.  Plus, the characters were pretty flat.  Sure, it was nice to learn that Superboy’s arm could have fear in it, and to see the Psycho Pirate back (and then his semi-useful mask used as a tool against the Black Lanterns… which crumbles in two frames which took a lot of rereading to figure out).  Overall, the miniseries just accomplished me feeling really bad for Smallville.  Poor one-dimensional stereotypical hickish townsfolk…

Titans was a love affair, hate affair, okay affair.  Part of me could see past the T&A fest when the story was okay, but then the other part of me was super offended.  I like Dove’s new role, but that’s about it.  Plus, it would have been cool to see Raven in this… but she wasn’t there.  Oh well.

Overall, the first batch of miniseries get an okay out of me… not really satisfying but not really terrible… they just don’t equal the power in the main feature.

The next grouping is the first two weeks of the ring promotional deal!  You know, when this was first announced (you’d get a promotional plastic ring with one of the Lantern Corps symbol on it for buying a certain comic) I thought it was a great marketing ploy but I wasn’t too excited to buy some comics that I wouldn’t normally get.  Well, each one of them proved me wrong in their own little ways.

Doom Patrol #4:

Now, I’ve been meaning to read some of the classic Doom Patrol stories, but I just haven’t had the time.  I know there’s a giant mythos behind the group, but I can honestly say that I don’t really know any of it.  Now, all of the promotional books (thus far) have included a memory download for the Black Lantern ring to sort of bring new readers (as in the people just buying the comic for the ring) up to speed.  I don’t really feel that this one completely accomplished that unlike the other two.  Sure, it definitely helped a hell of a lot, but not completely.  Part of me liked the art in this comic and part of me didn’t… It looked good in some instances (most notably how the Black Lanterns have sort of a mummified look to them and the representation of emotions through the Black Lantern’s eyes now used as a common device in all of the Blackest Night books), but bads in others (I didn’t too much like the inking or coloring, really).  The reveal at the end was super interesting with Clifford Steele and has me considering picking up the next issue.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t read the back up feature… I really like J.M. Dematteis especially after Savior 28, but to have a back up feature and then a preview for an upcoming book sort of steals away from the flow.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #10

First things first, I really loved the art in this comic.  The highly stylized use of a thin line and the super cool inking with dashed lines to show texture (especially on faces) was just way too neat.  The facial expressions are over the top and yet spot on.

Anyway, this issue follows Braniac 2 and 3… I knew a little bit about the different Braniacs, but the Memory Download beginning was a nice refresher.  My question was why does Vril Drox (Braniac 2) still hang out with a giant posse (including Kanjar Ro) when he has robots to do his shit for him?

Oh well, the reveal at the end was priceless and shows that something done before in the Sinestro Corps War can be done again and still have a kickass effect.

Plus, Black Lantern Harbinger’s in here… and she’s not that whiny!

I’m definitely considering picking up the next one, and this review’s sort of sparse because the comic mostly speaks for itself.

Booster Gold #26

Now, I have a love/hate relationship with Booster Gold… He’s a showboat who’s now on the right track, but that still doesn’t forgive for his past mistakes of being sort of a stupid character.  Like everyone else (mostly), I feel like 52 definitely vindicated him a lot (which makes me think… are we ever going to see how Animal Man is dealing with Blackest Night?), but there’s still some problems in his comic now.

Despite having an unbalanced relationship with Booster Gold, I’ve always liked Ted Kord Blue Beetle… mostly because the first issue I read with him in it was Infinite Crisis and him being all badass with Max Lord and getting his brains blown out.

Overall, I came out of reading this comic saying aloud “Holy shit! That was a lot better than I thought it would be.”

From Booster revisiting one of his failures to the relationship with the new Blue Beetle, I really thought this issue excelled, and there’s no doubt that I will buy the next comic.  Part of the reason this comic works so well is that we know Ted Kord’s going to come bursting in at some point, but Dan Jurgens holds it off until the end and instead works on developing/reminding the reader of Booster and BBs friendship and characters.  That makes the sickening reveal at the end so much better.

Does anyone else find that Ted Kord’s nose looks really weird and a little uncharacteristic of him in life despite being all decaying…?  Also, couldn’t they have made his costume on the head sink in just a bit to represent the head wound…?

Nevertheless,

Our next grouping is the actual main event players a la Green Lantern, Corps, and Blackest Night.

Green Lantern #47

You know, I really don’t care much about Hal Jordan anymore.  Sure, he’s cool, but he’s just a Batman in space with a ring…  The stars of this book are the other players: Sinestro, Larfleeze, and Atrocitus.  Holy shit do I still want them to stay around when this is all over.  They’ve had such little screen time (excluding Sinestro) that I really want them to play out for much longer.  Hell!  Atrocitus gets his heart ripped out by the Inversions (who look super neat) like everyone else and ends up still living because he doesn’t need a heart because he’s such a badass.

Too bad Abin Sur doesn’t stay around for a bit longer… I guess he’s more important for the ideal and the standard of being the best Green Lantern ever than actually an interesting character.

Unfortunately, this comic doesn’t accomplish what it’s meant to, and that’s making Green Lantern seem interesting… it’s a bit of a sign of bad tidings when your lead character’s outshined by others.

Still, a respectable:

Green Lantern Corps #42

Stuff on Oa increases the shit up… there’s a lot of characters and I feel like only Kilowog gets a decent amount of treatment.

Sure, Kyle Rayner’s sacrifice at the end is pretty neat, but after just seeing something similar with Sodom Yat, the effect is lessened.  Plus, in the whole Origins and Omens thing that came out to get people excited about Blackest Night, Kyle was all painting a mural… So, I know that this isn’t going to last.

I don’t know… this comic just sort of felt like a placeholder in the event to find out what’s happening elsewhere.  Hmm…

Blackest Night #4:

Do the Justice League villains on the front of this cover really play much of a role on the inside… no… but they look cool.

Wow, but isn’t the part in Gotham so neat… Scarecrow just walking around and stares down Black Lantern Azrael (who looks super cool with that hood even if it’s a bit like Black Lantern Hawk).

Then, Luthor’s being a badass.

Then, Mera is suddenly a power player with the Flash and Atom… the new Big Three.  Then, Jason fights Ronnie and makes me want to see what happens.  Then, Atom gives a pep talk that sort of back fires (sadly) but rips a guy apart.

Then, in two pages in creepy near silence, Nekron rises… as does all of Coast City.

- photo by Mitch Waxman

Hawk at Astoria Park, Halloween day 2009. I believe it’s a Red Tail Hawk, but I’m not qualified to genotype the avian specie.

from wikipedia

The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the “chickenhawk,” though it rarely preys on chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. Red-tailed Hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within its range. There are fourteen recognized subspecies, which vary in appearance and range. It is one of the largest members of the genus Buteo in North America, typically weighing from 690 to 1600 grams (1.5 to 3.5 pounds) and measuring 45–65 cm (18 to 26 in) in length, with a wingspan from 110 to 145 cm (43 to 57 in). The Red-tailed Hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.

According to sources in the ornithological community, two red tail hawks nest in the rafters of the Triborough Bridge. Accordingly with the Hellenic character of the neighborhood, these hawks are named Atlas and Athena. Perhaps this is one of them.

The bird people are all over this, check out urbanhawks, and nycgovparks.com has a neat overview on “The Atlantic Flyway”.

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It’s nearly five in the morning. The heat is running and Uriah is asleep.  My cats are up and energetic, and the outside nocturnal animals aren’t bumping against the house.

This is that very quiet point of the day. I’m usually in bed, but Kenshin, my male half Siamese heard me tossing and turning and said ‘hello.’

I’m not about to step outside, its  freezing- 34 degrees. I am staying inside.

The walls are quiet; come to think of it I didn’t hear any scratching at all last night. Hopefully all the mice have been caught or chased out by the cats.

This has been a great summer for mice; they tried to have the run of the house. My cats were catching them at a rate of one mouse per week. Normally, the mice only try to come inside  in the fall after the farmers harvested their crops.

I still have a chance at more mice soon.  The farmer still has feeder corn standing tall in his south side field. The cats will be happy…

Country mice and rats are slightly different than their city cousins. They are cleaner, and healthier looking. This is my opinion, from what I observed of the little rodents, from my perch on a chair, the couch or in the bathtub.

Just recently a rat took up residence near the outside dog kennel, which happens to be right outside my office window.

When Uriah wants to stay outside all day, I put a cup full of dry dog food outside with him. The rat will come running as if I were feeding him. Sitting upright, next to the dog bowl, looking eerily like a cartoon rat. If it starts talking I’m in trouble.

That rat’s days are numbered.  The hawk has been circling the deck and I have seen the owl during the day a lot this summer.

Just to clarify I don’t like mice or rats running around where I live! The comical run though the house with me heading for high ground is not fun. 

A couple of weeks ago, Kenshin came running out of the kitchen, inches behind a large mouse. I happened to be walking into the kitchen at the same time. I had a mouse and a cat running in circles around me, literally! 

Cats are great mousers. I am not!

Cats love to give me mice. I have learned how to be thankful when they drop them at my feet or on my chest when I’m sleeping…

Keeping with the Green theme, I don’t use poisons. Poison is very bad for other animals that feed on mice.

Besides, a mouse is the perfect cat food, And a cat is a pefect mouser.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:House_mouse.jpg