This just in...

For any and all who know Mr. Greg Baker, wish him well. He's in the hospital after a harrowing night in BG. After his nightly routine of saving babies (seven this time, plus an Eskimo), his car broke down. He had to push it along the snow-covered road in terrible weather, and his arm was in a sling. Already worn down from the night's activities, he finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Or... he had an appendectomy. The surgery went fine, he's currently recovering. Spare a thought for him, if you please.

Geekdom Riff, Op. 1

I'm in a scene design class here at ol' BGSU. Our latest little project is a type of "peephole" set, using a shoebox. It's to get us used to making models for the design process. The phrase we're supposed to illustrate? "Oh, brave new world!"

Enter me. I bulid a marsh/bog area, put on a big rock, and use an Imperial Guardsman from Warhammer 40,000 in a dramatic pose. Oh, and then I add a few Necrons to give it a "I just stumbled onto a metallic-zombie planet" feel. Of course, this means that I had to buy another box of Necron warriors, and I had to buy a Cadian heavy weapon team to get just the right arm.

That's how I justify it. It's all for academia, I swear. Just like when I had to buy those issued of JSA for my conference paper. Although, there was actual justification for those. Wouldn't be much of a paper otherwise.

If anyone is amazed at the justified geekdom that is my scholarly career, wait to you hear my proposed thesis. Brilliant.

(This post brought to you by Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America and Postscript to the Name of the Rose.)

Oh, morning, you always leave me hurting...

Hey, look, a new post. It's 9:30 in the morning, my body hates me, and I haven't eaten yet. Sounds like Friday morning in the Film Lab. Of course, hopping the bars with David Tran last night probably didn't make this morning easier. Tran, I hope you got into a verbal altercation with that table at Brewster's. Come on, she was wearing a cheap crown!

For those out of the know, Tran and I ran the Opinion and Page 3 sections (respectively) back in "The Day." Oh, the newsroom was not a safe place. If it wasn't either of us, it was them dern Entertainment editors. Anyhow, I digress.

Speaking of the News, I continue to write my columns. The last few weeks have been riffs on a similar subject: Amendment numero Uno. The first column was in response to Ohio Senate Bill 24, the second to those who wail about "Hollywood liberals." I figured that at some point, I'd have to stick up for ol' Amend. #1, but twice in one month? Good gravy...

At least the couple running the current Opinion and Not News sections are good editors. They're no Tran or J., but that probably means they're more responsible.

Besides the News, I work in the Film Lab and at Finders. Free time is a mystery to me. Any I have is spent reading material in preparation for my paper presentation at the Popular Culture Assoc. conference in San Diego. Yup, San Diego. I guess this grad school has its ups, as well as its sanity-warping levels of classwork.

[Random postscript: Apparently, I've been booted off MaryBeth's list of blogs... le sigh. I guess that's the punishment for updating once a month.]