Christmas 2008, Houde Style

[thee great one]

Here in the future, Christmas Eve hangovers are kicking in.

Why don't I get a Chili Dog shack hat?!

He didn't even give one to his Chili Guru.

I have to wear a hairnet!

 

[ourchair]

You live in another country.

I don't like to pay for that type of shipping.

I forget, you didn't get the Kiwi a Shack hat either.

What type of shipping is that? Don't Yanqui dollars buy like a single cross-continent expedition now, or did the recession change that?

 

[moonmaster]

It shall be the 25th a few minutes from now, so Merry Christmas all.

I'm going be a bit theatric here for a moment...

*taps conductor baton on music stand*

Be you Christian, Jew, Muslim, secular, Skrull or Loeb, feel free to join in.

I know it's the holidays, but I refuse to accept Loeb.

Moonie, that is beautiful.

We should do a manga together.

Thank you but I can't draw eyes that big.

It is 4:15pm on Christmas Day and I have survived my last Christmas in NZ.

lol ur clocks are set rong!!

There were some creepy people here who are distantly related to us. They were creepy. And distantly related to us.

I thought all NZers were creepy and distantly related?

I think my aunt tried to take advantage of me by giving me these odd Vodka milkshakes over and over again.

Aww, I wish my family was crazy enough to let me drink on Christmas.

What type of shipping is that? Don't Yanqui dollars buy like a single cross-continent expedition now, or did the recession change that?

We burn our cash for warmth outside of our cardboard boxes.

 

[Iceshadow]

I got Houde's Shack Shirt and humorous card. I'll show a picture of me in it later today.

 

[Ice]

Merry Christmas UC Centralites!

I have lots of good stuff from people. First and foremost I got lots of goodies from ProjectX2 on CD's that include some comics, movies, and all The Beatle Songs (booyah :rockon.

Then, my gifts from Houde:

And this one when I opened it, I was like, "NOOO WAY!"

rockon


But the awesomeness didn't stop there. This is what my friend gave me last night:

And it is beautiful. rockon


I also received a $20 gift certificate to Amazon. And also got PS238 Vol. 1 from Seldes as well as a Scramble Squares puzzle set with eagles (super sweet!!! ). My brother has given me a Laptop Cooling Pad, and damn that's something I really needed! I got a wallet from a parent & family from work, though I will give it to my brother because he needs a wallet more than I do (and I still have one I bought some time ago). Also got new sneakers which look great and a digital watch.

And that's not even it!

Coming in the mail and coming soon for Christmas is Lego Batman (yay!) and Star Ocean: 'Til the End of Time (w0000t!).

Overall, this has been a very, very good Christmas.

 

[Dancanread]

50% sale today on new comics at my LCS!! Yeah, they're open.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS LAMP POST!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MOVIE THEATRE!!

MERRY EVERYTHING UC!!!!

 

[thee great one]

I got that same Marvel book from a friend that Ice got.

I learned that Matt Murdock had a twin brother named Mike.

Merry Christmas from the Greatest Member Of 08.

:mrgreen:

 

[TwilightEL]

Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to you all.

The present I'm most excited about? X-box and assorted games. But a VERY close second is this. It's HUGE.

 

[Grocer Man]

I got that same Marvel book from a friend that Ice got.

I learned that Matt Murdock had a twin brother named Mike.

Merry Christmas from the Greatest Member Of 08.

:mrgreen:

I have also gotten that book. It is fun.

 

[Ice]

I have also gotten that book. It is fun.

I have joined the group! Hello brothers!

 

[E]

Well, this was a sucky Christmas. One of my very best friends had a ruptured appendix last night, had surgery, and after the surgery actually swallowed his tongue. I had heard that wasn't even possible, but it is. He was without air for a long time and is on a ventilator until tomorrow, when they will take him off and see if there was any brain damage. He's got 3 kids 7 and under and one on the way. He's like the healthiest person I've ever met; I just can't imagine him sitting in a hospital bed on a ventilator. I'm just dumbfounded.

 

[Grocer Man]

Well, this was a sucky Christmas. One of my very best friends had a ruptured appendix last night, had surgery, and after the surgery actually swallowed his tongue. I had heard that wasn't even possible, but it is. He was without air for a long time and is on a ventilator until tomorrow, when they will take him off and see if there was any brain damage. He's got 3 kids 7 and under and one on the way. He's like the healthiest person I've ever met; I just can't imagine him sitting in a hospital bed on a ventilator. I'm just dumbfounded.

Ugh, so sorry to hear.

 

[Ice]

Well, this was a sucky Christmas. One of my very best friends had a ruptured appendix last night, had surgery, and after the surgery actually swallowed his tongue. I had heard that wasn't even possible, but it is. He was without air for a long time and is on a ventilator until tomorrow, when they will take him off and see if there was any brain damage. He's got 3 kids 7 and under and one on the way. He's like the healthiest person I've ever met; I just can't imagine him sitting in a hospital bed on a ventilator. I'm just dumbfounded.

That sucks. So sorry to hear.

 

[Void.M]

Christmas rocked. I got a new HDTV for my room. Went to our grandparents house to celebrate christmas we had turkey and cake(because it's also my dads B-day). We also had some coquito(our version of eggnog) . Twas fun.

 

[Jaggyd]

Well, this was a sucky Christmas. One of my very best friends had a ruptured appendix last night, had surgery, and after the surgery actually swallowed his tongue. I had heard that wasn't even possible, but it is. He was without air for a long time and is on a ventilator until tomorrow, when they will take him off and see if there was any brain damage. He's got 3 kids 7 and under and one on the way. He's like the healthiest person I've ever met; I just can't imagine him sitting in a hospital bed on a ventilator. I'm just dumbfounded.

Ugh, that totally suck. Hope he makes a full recovery.

 

[moonmaster]

This Christmas was better than the last. We watched "A Colbert Christmas" while we unwrapped our gifts this morning and I got a record player, "Skeletal Lamping" on vinyl and a record of famous JFK speeches, a sweet chair (something I really need. The chair I have in my room that I'm currently sitting on is one *** shift away from totally collapsing), a huge Beatles poster, Beatles Monopoly(!), and a bunch of DVDs I wanted (The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Spaced).

Our family gathering was blissfully without drama and my gifts went over very well with everyone.

My cousin bought tickets for me, him, and my sister to go see

on January 24th at The Vic which is insanely, phenomenally exciting. Probably the best gift I got this year.

Well, this was a sucky Christmas. One of my very best friends had a ruptured appendix last night, had surgery, and after the surgery actually swallowed his tongue. I had heard that wasn't even possible, but it is. He was without air for a long time and is on a ventilator until tomorrow, when they will take him off and see if there was any brain damage. He's got 3 kids 7 and under and one on the way. He's like the healthiest person I've ever met; I just can't imagine him sitting in a hospital bed on a ventilator. I'm just dumbfounded.

I'm sorry to hear that. That's really terrible.

 

[Planet-man]

Christmas Day Pics!

It would be so much fun to play in your own stocking:

and taken Christmas Eve...

Christmas Day was pretty good. Present-wise it was terrific. I miss the huge family Christmas. The year before last basically my entire extended family moved to another city in a sad, stupid turn of events. It's just my nuclear family now, but it's still good. We made fresh cinnamon buns from scratch today and they were sublime. I got my dad the first complete volume of remastered Three Stooges short films on DVD(widely known as "the one everyone's been waiting for", and it delivers) and we all watched a whole bunch of them over the course of the day. Hysterical.

What I got for Christmas:

- The Tales Of Beedle The Bard (Completely and very happily surprised by this. Looking forward to it next time I'm in full-blown Potter mode)
- Bruce Almighty DVD(YES!)
- Ghosts/Aliens by Trey Hamburger(totally surprised by this, but it hilarious and so many people here would love it. Check it out)
- Zodiac 2-Disc Director's Cut(Incredible. It even has interviews from surviving victims. I've seen this movie three times and can't wait to see it again)
- The Pre-History Of The Far Side: A Tenth Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson(only Far Side book I didn't have. I've wanted this for ten years).
- Twelve Monkeys Special Edition DVD(Perfect.)
- $40 HMV Gift Card
- Superman Returns: The Videogame(It's not a masterpiece, but it's an extremely satisfying Superman experience and I would go crazy if I had to go another year without some sort of outlet like this. I can play it for hours)
- A Scratch&Win that I'm saving to scratch and win from tomorrow
- Terry's Chocolate Orange, of course

and finally...

There is a God.

Merry Christmas.

 

[Gothamite]

Since the family got a 42-inch HD-TV as one big present between us, everything else I got was just smaller stuff. Nevertheless, I'm extremely satisfied with everything.

I got The DC Vault from my brothers which is just magnificent and something I could pore through for years and still not be completely finished with it.

My girlfriend got me Guitar Hero: World Tour, which, while admittedly not being the best GH, is still awesome and the guitar that came with it means I can get the earlier games (I really, badly want to get GH2). Sweet Home Alabama, Live-Version on this was amazing.

Everything else was pretty small stuff. I finally got Long Halloween, which is one of those things that's been irritatingly missing from my collection of GNs for years now. Other presents included clothes, cosmetics and money. Nice!

As for the actual 'togetherness' of Christmas, we had my two grandmothers and my Dad's sister's family over and it was pretty good. Unfortunately, having worked intensively at my job on Christmas Eve from 10am until 6.30p.m with energy I just didn't have, I was completely exhausted all the way through the day and just wasn't really able to enjoy myself. Also, my girlfriend was really, badly sick for the last week and I haven't been able to see much of her at all, other than the day before Christmas Eve. Coupled with the whole 'Christmas must be spent with the family thing', that means I can't see her today, either and she's going away for New Year's. Bummer.

Nevertheless, Christmas-time, happy-to-be-alive, Merry Christmas to one and all!

 

[McCheese]

Well, I just got home last night and what should I find waiting for me? An awesome hat and a humorous card from Ultimate Houde!

Incidentally, he was the only person who got me something besides gift cards and cash. So thank you to Houde for being the only person to put any thought into my Christmas gift this year.

 

[Langsta]

I bought the Ultimate Human TPB with my Christmas money. I didn't feel like buying the HC. TPBs are easier to flip through. I already had a single issue from the mini-series. It's now one of my favorite Ultimate stories. And one of my favorite Hulk stories, in any universe. And I like Warren Ellis' science-y explanations for everything. Which led me to search for Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 2 and 3 TPBs, which I already had numerous single issues of. Volume 2, "Doom," was sold out at my comic book store. I wanted to get Volume 3, "N-Zone," because it explains the Four's powers. But I decided not to get it. I thought about buying the Earth X Trilogy Companion, which is just a collection of sketches and background material from the Earth X trilogy (it includes the Earth X Sketchbook, which Wizard magazine originally commissioned him to draw, asking him to imagine what the Marvel universe would look like in a Kingdom Come-like setting). I wanted to get it because, as an artist, I like to look at the work of other artists....But I decided not to get it, because most of the sketches I can find online. I also thought about getting The Long Halloween and maybe Dark Victory, but I'll have you guys decide. I've come to hate Loeb after Ultimates 3, Ultimatum, and the Red Hulk crap, but I realize that Long Halloween and Dark Victory were written earlier in his career, when his mind was "different" (i.e., 1980s Frank Miller = Dark Knight Returns and Year One; 2000s Frank Miller = All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder....maybe writing his "gritty pictures, excessive action, over-the-top characters, and internal monologue/voiceover" style for so many years just got tired and cause Miller's mind to deteriorate). I've heard good things about Long Halloween....and a lot of you guys bought it for Christmas. Long Halloween is supposed to be tied to Year One, but I think Frank Miller wrote Year One with the intention of Batman #1 being the next issue, because of the Joker reference he made at the end. I thought about getting some other Year One stories, like Batgirl: Year One, but decided not to get any. I heard that Robin: Year One was bad, and when I looked through it I didn't like the art. I've been trying to decide for an extremely long time now, whether or not I should get The Dark Knight Returns. I've looked at it. I heard its sequel was kind of bad. Other Batman-related stories I looked at were Batman: Faces and Batman: Jekyll and Hyde. I like the art for both, especially Jekyll and Hyde, because I love Jae Lee's work. And I heard good things about Faces, and it was on the Top 100 graphic novels in an old issue of Wizard. Ultimately, though, I decided to drop both stories, because I was running out of time. I was looking everywhere for Hulk: Boiling Point and Startling Stories: Banner, two books I've been wanting for a long time. But I couldn't find either. I also looked at Hulk: Gray TPB by Jeph Loeb, but I didn't think it was worth it and again, I've come to dislike Loeb. I might buy some more Planetary TPBs. I have some already and I know the overall story, but I mostly just enjoy the different takes that Ellis has for characters (i.e. Fantastic Four, Hulk, JLA, pulp heroes/villains) in the self-contained stories. I'd buy some of these books online, but I'd rather get them from a store so I can read them immediately. If you think any of the stories I've mentioned are good, or if you have any other recommendations, please feel free to let me know. I also got a digital camera for Christmas. And I bought the new seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Metalocalypse.

Also, here's an interesting news story:

Peruvian Jesus born to Virgin Mary on Christmas

LIMA (Reuters) – Virgin Mary, a 20-year-old Peruvian woman, gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas day and named him Jesus, Peru's state news agency said on Friday.

The baby's father, Adolfo Jorge Huamani, 24, is a carpenter. Religious Peruvians compared him to Joseph the Carpenter in the Bible.

"Two thousand years later the story of Bethlehem is relived," read the headline about the birth in El Comercio, the main newspaper in Peru, a predominantly Catholic country.

The mother, Virgen Maria Huarcaya, delivered the 7.7 pound (3.5 kg) boy, Jesus Emanuel, in the early hours of Christmas at the central maternity hospital in Lima, the capital.

"A few days ago we had decided to name my son after a professional soccer player," the father said. "But thanks to a happy coincidence this is how things ended up."