Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Martian Tripods by Tony Millionaire (review roundup)





Tripods and Ringwraiths from The Art of Tony Millionaire (blame the low quality images on me):
Prepare to set sail on a drunken fever dream of dollies, apes, and exotic mysteries that, once seen, can never be un-seen! The Art of Tony Millionaire collects illustrations, comics, stories, photographs, and anecdotes from the man once referred to as "Beefy McManus" by the late rock star "Rocky Stardomes". . . the one and only Tony Millionaire! Thrill to never-before-seen illustrations that have made women gasp and grown men gasp, too! Partake in the beautiful genius of the only cartoonist in the history of mankind to have won five Eisner Awards, three Harvey Awards, and an Ignatz! He also won Best Marksman at summer camp when he was twelve, but lost the Art Competition in high school to a girl who drew a lovely ear of corn! Stand in Awe that a 200-page book by the creator of the Cartoon Network's Drinky Crow Show will cost you only $39.95! Now, finally, more than ever . . . The Art of Tony Millionaire.
I enjoyed the book much more than I expected since I was never a big fan of his strips from the LA Weekly. Partly, that's because there's quite a bit of art in the book that has little to do with Maakies. But the best part of the book is actually the autobiographical photos and text. Tony's a very interesting guy (to the extent the text is truthful), and talks about being raised by hippies, selling prints in Rome by scamming tourists, begging for work, and drinking too much. Also, he wore an admiral's uniform, with sword, to his senior prom. The Art of Tony Millionaire is 34% off at Amazon.You'll have to buy the book to see a photo of Tony and his prom date.

And a few more reviews:

1. I've only read about thirty pages of SuperFreakonomics, and I've already learned that Indian women have an unusually high risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease because condoms are simply too big for the average Indian man. Also, there used to be so much excess horse manure that it would be piled sixty feet high in vacant lots. Now, it's a valuable commodity. This won't be a surprise to anyone who's familiar with Dubner and Leavitt, but the book is fascinating and easy to read. (However, the book's cover is possibly the ugliest in my home.) 46% off at Amazon.

2. All-Star Superman Volume 2: Well, I certainly give an A+ to the art by Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant. The writing's fine (although a little Bizarro speak goes a long way), but in light of how much I disliked the last few comics I read by Grant Morrison, I have to give most of the credit to the art team. 32% off at Amazon.


3. Fantastic Four World's Greatest: Best Fantastic Four story I've read in years, but that's not saying very much. Not as good as Millar and Hitch's run on Ultimates. For the record, my favorite FF story was when Reed and Sue journeyed through a black hole with the Silver Surfer in search of the Elders of the Universe. (Of course, that was really a Silver Surfer story...) 22% off at Amazon.

4. Real Heroes Firefighters for the Wii: The controls are a little unforgiving, and the mission objectives can be a tough to figure out, but all in all, at $30, it's a no-brainer purchase for anyone with a young boy. The missions are surprisingly varied (collapsing bridge, amusement park, museum, and more), and you get to use saws, the jaws of life, and various other tools in addition to your trusty hose. We've been playing daily for over a month and my four year old still begs for more - - sometimes I play and he watches, and sometimes I control the nunchuk (movement) and he controls the Wiimote (everything else). $30 at Amazon.It's part of the current buy two get one free promotion.

5. Belkin RockStar 5-Way Headphone Splitter: One of the heroes of my recent vacation - - use it to connect up to five headphones to a single device. Came in handy after I discovered that the splitter that came with the digiplayer I rented on the plane made the audio unintelligible. $13 at Amazon.

6. Duracell Instant Power Charger for USB Compatible Devices: You charge the rechargeable power charger by connecting it to a computer's USB port, and once it's charged, you can use it to instantly and repeatedly recharge a USB compatible device such as my three-year-old iPod and it's less-than-fifty-minute life span. 22% off at Amazon.

And on that last point, has anyone actually tried replacing a fifth generation iPod Classic's battery? Was it worth the cost and labor?

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