He’s Chevy Chase, and I’m Not

In addition to my husband’s Bill Murray collection, there is a collection of Chevy Chase movies in my home. What’s funny about this is that Billy Murray and Chevy Chase did not get along in real life when they both worked on Saturday Night Live. Then again, I’ve heard that Chevy Chase is very difficult to work with, and many people cannot get along with him. Too bad for Chevy, but many of his movies are next to Bill’s on the shelf.

Sports Video Games

I’m sure my spouse isn’t the only nerd who loves sports but doesn’t play them. He can live vicariously through athletes while yelling at the television, but sometimes that just isn’t enough. When he feels the need to participate, he’ll break out the sports video games. I used to think that watching sporting events on TV was pretty boring, but that was before I got to watch fake sporting events on TV. As though the game wasn’t long and boring enough, there are options to setup before and after the game. My husband can spend hours fiddling with the options of the game.



I’ve actually tried playing a few of these games with him, but I have no idea what the buttons do. So, I’ll just randomly push buttons until something happens. Otherwise, I like to try and knock down the referees. On occasion, I might score on accident, which infuriates my husband because I never try in the first place.

Wolverine First Crass

Wolverine is extremely popular, and he stars in many comic books. Of course, he is in the X-Men comics, but he also stars in a solo book. This comic title is called Wolverine First Class. How is this comic any different from regular X-Men titles? It’s simple. Just by looking at the cover, I can tell that it’s about Wolverine going to prom. Except he forgot his date’s corsage, so in the next issue he has to fight a bunch of ninjas!

Blackest Night Ring Checklist

My husband made me go to the comic book store recently so I could watch him drool on the comics. When we walked past the stack of Blackest Night comics, I saw they’re also sold with different colored lantern rings. I haven’t seen my husband wearing any new rings lately, so I bet he’s still waiting for his order from DCBS to arrive.


Amongst Ash’s hoards of comics, I found a checklist of Blackest Night various colored lantern rings. It looks like he’ll have eight rings total when the Black Lantern ring he already has is counted. Whatever will he wear on his thumbs?

That Stupid ‘70s Show

My husband has everyone season of That ‘70s Show because he has fanboyitis, which is an obsessive need to own complete collections of everything. I honestly didn’t even know that he watched the show when it was new, but apparently he loves it. He said that it reminds him of what he thinks his parents must have been like when they were teenagers… except without the drugs, friends, sex, music, or adventures… Perhaps he just likes it because there’s a nerdy kid on the show that likes comics and Star Wars?

Blog Makeover

I've been at home ill with pneumonia and bronchitis for the last week. This means that I don’t have the energy to do any work, but I have the time to play on the computer. I made a new banner today, and I wanted to share the entire picture.

(Drawing by Fanboy Wife, based on Hopeless by Roy Lichtenstein.)

Saturn Skank

The Legion of Super-Heroes has a lot of scantily clad superheroes. Apparently, women can’t fight evil when they’re fully dressed. Saturn girl is one of these skanky superheroes. She’s from the future and can read minds. She got her name because she shares many characteristics with the planet: she’s huge, gassy, and likes rings.

(Drawing by Mike Grell.)

Saturn Girl is also in love with Lightning Lad, another Legionnaire. They go on super dates and have super fun.

David Duchovny’s Show of Shame

So, my husband bought the first season of Californication because he can’t get enough David Duchovny from the X-Files. I don’t know what he was expecting with a title like “Californication,” but it’s a pretty unpleasant show. Duchovny plays a guy who is a big whore, and at one point he even sleeps with a teenager. I didn’t watch very much of it. It’s too gross.

Mylar Bags Serve New Purpose

I now realize why comic book stores often board and bag their comics for sale. I used to think it was to keep people from reading them without buying them, but I was wrong. It’s to keep the fanboy drool off the books!

I'm Fond of You, Man

I Love You, Man is another movie that has Marshall from How I Met Your Mother in it. I never even heard of it before Ash brought it home. The only reason he bought it was because he needed to complete the Marshall collection.


The film is about a man who is getting married, but he doesn’t have any male-friends to be in his wedding party. So, he goes out on many “man-dates” to try and find some male-bridesmaids. (I know that’s not the right name for them, but I can’t think of correct word.) After many failed attempts at making friends, the main character meets Marshall, and they become best friends forever! Marshall even gets asked to be the best man, but then they break up for a little while. The bride eventually calls Marshall on their wedding day, and everything ends happily ever after.

The best part of this movie is that I didn’t have to see Marshall naked!

The Incomplete Sliders Collection

Fortunately for me, my husband does not own all five seasons of Sliders. He only has the first boxed set, which includes seasons one and two. So, instead of having several DVD boxes full of Sliders episodes collecting dust in my living room, I only have the one.

I haven’t watched any of the episodes on DVD with Ash. I’ve never seen him watch it, so perhaps he really didn’t like the show. I saw a few of the episodes back in the day when they were aired on the Sci-Fi Channel. From what I remember, it’s about a group of people who “slide” through alternative realities and have to solve problems. There were usually four people that slid between worlds, and I think the main cast included a scientist guy, his girlfriend, his brother, and a singer named Remmy.

I really just can’t complain about this series properly because even though it’s cluttering my shelf, it’s not as intrusive as Smallville.

Dead Bat-Man

Did you hear that Bruce Wayne is dead and that Robin is now Batman? Yeah, I didn’t care either…

Warning: Caprica

I was relieved when I found out that the latest Battlestar Galactica movie only came with one DVD, so that meant that I would not have to sit through 96 hours of bonus features. I really thought the news was too good to be true, so I checked inside the DVD case. What I found was worse than a second DVD of bonus material. I found a little sheet of paper that there is going to be a spinoff show called Caprica! I thought the hurting was over, but no!


I also noticed that the Sci-Fi Channel is now spelling their name in a completely idiotic way. Why on Earth are they now the SyFy Channel? Is the genre of media now spelled “Syence Fyction” or did they just get a new marketing director who failed English?

The Latest Star Trek Movie

I saw a commercial recently that said that the Star Trek movie was going to be released to DVD on November 17th, and I hoped my husband didn’t hear the news. Unfortunately for me, he did. He came home with his proud find the morning it was available for sale.


I complained enough about having to see this movie in the theater, so I may get out of having to watch it with my husband. Now, if only my future self can come back in time and poke out my eyes last summer so I can say I’ve never seen the new Star Trek film.

Not Good Enough for the Legion

Apparently there are so many superheroes in the future that some of them get jobs as substitutes. Many heroes in the future can join the Legion of Super-Heroes, as long as they finish college with a degree in Super Powers, pass student-superhero-ing, and score high enough on the accredited tests. After they qualify for and pay for their superhero license, they can apply for a job with the Legion of Super-Heroes. If the economy is bad and the Legion isn’t hiring due to budget cuts, the heroes can join the Legion of Substitute Heroes. They get called up if a regular superhero is sick or is gone for professional leave.

These heroes also go to the Legion of Substitute Heroes if they aren’t quite qualified to be in the regular Legion. Perhaps they earned their degrees, but they didn’t score high enough on the accredited tests. Or, perhaps they tried a career in another field, but thought they’d want to try out superhero-ing. Regardless, these are the second-string heroes it seems more like a carnival sideshow than a super club.

Additionally, if there are so many people with powers in the future, why do the superheroes need to band together? Who do they need to protect? Does the Legion just spend their time protecting the Substitutes?

Forgetting Marshall

My live-in fanboy likes the actor who plays Marshall on How I Met Your Mother. I haven’t taken the effort to learn his real name, so I’m going to keep referring to him as “Marshall.” The first movie Ash purchased that Marshall is in was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which also stars Veronica Mars. (I never bothered to learn Veronica Mars’s real name either…)


If you ever want to see Marshall completely naked, this movie is for you. If you don’t want to see him nude, then don’t watch this movie or have a braver soul fast forward through the breakup scene while your cover your eyes. If you didn’t know about his nudity beforehand, and you’ve seen this movie, then you have my sincerest sympathies.

In addition to seeing Marshall naked, you’ll also get to see him drunk and crying. The movie is about how Veronica Mars dumps him for another guy, and they all end up in Hawaii. Marshall falls in love with another woman, Veronica Mars gets herpes, and the movie ends with a puppet show about Dracula. There’s plenty in this movie for fanboys to love.

No More Dollhouse

Did you hear the good news? Joss Whedon’s terrible show Dollhouse is getting canceled! Even if my husband has to complete his collection, it’s only two seasons.


Additionally, I complained so much when Dollhouse was on that I’ve trained my husband to not want to watch it when I’m at home!

Lightning Laddy

(Drawing by Fanboy Wife, based on a picture by Gary Frank.)

Lightning Lad is in the Legion of Super-Heroes. He’s made of lightning, or something. He got his superpowers because his friends dared him to wiz on an electric fence.

More Kevin Smith

An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder is another DVD in my husband’s shrine to Kevin Smith. If you really need to watch a man wear shorts with a long coat, this is the movie for you. It’s just like An Evening with Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith talks to the masses of uber-dorks who idolize him.

Live from New York it’s Saturday Night

My husband loves the early seasons of Saturday Night Live. I think it’s because of his love for Bill Murray that makes him want every season. There’s also that fanboy fervor that requires him to own everything in every collection that causes him to “need” each season as it is released.

So, dutifully, I buy him the seasons as they’re annually released. There isn’t a “play all episodes” option on the DVDs, so they’re kind of a hassle to watch. (I know, it’s really hard to hit “play” on the remote when the episodes end, right?) Regardless, he loves to make me watch the land shark, Coneheads, and killer bees. Fortunately for me, he doesn’t think that contemporary SNL is funny, so my hope is that he won’t need to complete this collection!

Athena Voltaire

Athena Voltaire is a comic about an adventurous archaeologist, I think. I remember hearing Ash tell more stories about the woes of getting it published and distributed than of actual content. This comic began online, and then when it tried to get published there were a lot of obstacles. After the creators finally got the books ready, Diamond, the comic book distribution company, lost most of the boxes somehow. This caused more problems with getting more books published because of sale statistics.

Cowboy Ninja Viking

There’s a new comic called Cowboy Ninja Viking. I think the title speaks for itself.

Enough with the Degrassi

Not only does my husband own Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, and Degrassi: the Next Generation, he also owns the special Jay and Silent Bob do Degrassi boxed set. It has all the episodes that Jay and Silent Bob star in that come with the regular DVD sets, plus a million hours of bonus features.

This makes me very sad.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan to Bore

I thought I was done having to watch Battlestar Galactica, but I was sadly mistaken. It turned out that another movie, Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, was released recently. My husband insisted that we watch it right away, and he actually slept through the last half of it. I kept asking him, “Are you sleeping? Can I turn off the movie?” and he would wake up and declare that he was watching the movie. Then, 30 seconds later, he’d be snoozing yet again.


The Plan is supposed to be amazing because Edward James Olmos directed it, and if he could teach disadvantaged teens calculus, he certainly could direct a movie! Anyway, the film is supposed to summarize everything that happened in the series, but it’s from the robots’ perspective. I wasn’t entertained by the show and other movie in the first place, but at least it’s only one disk.

Baseketball is Not a Sport

Baseketball is another gem from the creators of South Park. It’s about two guys, who are un-cool and not very good at sports, who invent their own sport so they can shine. That sport, of course, is baseketball. The sport catches on, gets major endorsements, and it there are stripper-cheerleaders. The two men compete for the attention of a woman, who helps children in need.


It’s been a long time since I’ve had to endure this movie, but I remember being put off by the stripper-cheerleaders and the penis jokes.

Bruce Invasion

Even though I love Bruce Campbell and all that he creates, the movie Terminal Invasion was pretty bad. I still adore Bruce, but these Sci-Fi Channel movies are pretty horrible. Cheesy plot, bad computer animation, goofy monsters, and bad acting are a staple. Terminal Invasion would be completely unwatchable if it weren’t for the dreamy Bruce Campbell.


The movie is about some aliens in an airport terminal. No one knows who the aliens are, and people start dying one-by-one. They even accuse the incredible Bruce Campbell of being an alien, but it turns out to be the annoying children. (I hope you don’t think I just spoiled the plot, but you would have been able to figure out the kids were the aliens pretty quickly on your own if you had to watch this film.) Bruce saves the day, and there’s lots of gooey gore.

The Legion of Who Cares

There are quite a few comic books written about superheroes in the future. This grouping of heroes is called the Legion of Super-Heroes. These guys don’t stay in the future though; they like to come back in time and visit Superman. The first time they came back, 3 of them visited him on Christmas Eve. One at a time, they visited Superman on the hour and took him back in time to visit his past mistakes… No, wait, that’s Dickens. My mistake!

There are a lot of superheroes in this association, and they have had several runs over the decades. These heroes wear some pretty skanky outfits, but my husband swears that the older comics are worse than the modern ones. I think they’re also supposed to be teenagers, but I don’t remember or care.

How You Met my Mother

My husband has been collecting the boxed sets for How I Met Your Mother lately. Unfortunately for me, this series is still running, and so he’ll have to keep adding to his collection. I think he started watching it because the woman who was Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s best friend is in the show. I think he keeps watching it because he likes the actor who plays Marshall. Marshall isn’t the main character, but I think my husband likes him because he sings all the time, believes in the Loch Ness Monster, and he’s from St. Cloud, Minnesota. (Ash sings all the time too. I’m not sure on his standing with Nessie, but I know he likes St. Cloud.)

Who You Gonna Call?

On Halloween, my husband took me to a movie. We went to see Ghostbusters. To add insult to injury, he bought us matching Ghostbusters t-shirts just for this occasion. The friends that came with us also had to dawn Ghostbusters apparel for the event.

To my relief/horror, there were people dressed up more than us at the event. Most of the staff was wearing t-shirts with the logo, and there were many people in their regular Halloween costumes. There was also a grown man in a jump suit with Ghostbusters patches, knee pads, and a leaf blower proton pack!

While I find the silkscreened proton packs on the t-shirts disturbing, at least my husband hasn’t made a 3D one for himself! (I really hope he didn’t get any “ideas” for Halloween next year.)

How to Understand Comics

Scott McCloud wrote a book called Understanding Comics, which provides a long explanation of what comics are and how to understand them. Ash bought this book and encouraged me to read it. I bet he thought that if I read it I would be convinced that all comics are glorious and wonderful and go frolic to the comic book store! He was wrong.


After reading Understanding Comics, I learned about the history of comics and how they are put together. The entire book was presented like a comic, with panels and word balloons. It would make a good textbook if someone wanted to teach a class on comics. I don’t know who would want to do that, but this would be a good resource for it.

Robin

(Drawing by Art Baltazar.)

Batman has a bat-sidekick named Robin. I think he was an orphan that was raised by the circus, and then his went to live with Batman. The two of them bonded because Batman was orphaned and raised by an older, single gentleman too. Apparently in Gotham City, Social Services doesn’t keep very good tabs on their foster children because I don’t think they’d knowingly give a kid to a superhero.

Even though Batman could easily hire a babysitter for little Robin because he’s very rich, Batman takes the kid with him to fight crime. It’s okay because Robin has a super suit, and spandex will keep him from harm.