~ all the panic can cease; we managed to score a copy of ‘amazing spider-man’ #529 at new york city’s forbidden planet this weekend. we dug through a pile of second printings and uncovered a few first printings; we left two (2) of them on the shelf for anyone who wants to pedal there immediately upon reading this.

~ speaking of marvel comics, it is news to us that marvel and dc have held the rights to the term ‘super hero’ since the 1960’s!

~ speaking of ridiculous ideas, we have seen parked in front of the abandoned church on 47th and kingsessing vans emblazoned with a logo for an ‘anti-graffiti network’ [w]. this is a surprisingly clever use of philadelphia’s limited resources; we need graffiti so much less than we need anti-stabbing, anti-shooting, or anti-getting beaten in the street in broad daylight networks. although, perhaps if more hoodlums were allowed to spraypaint, they would have less time to punch cyclists in the face [+] and steal routers and hand tools [+].

~ we were just as torn up as the next reader when we reached the end of ‘daredevil’ #81 and found that it was the last issue of the bendis/maleev run that has kept us riveted to the title for the past four years. wiping away two (2) months of tears, we cracked open #82 and #83 and discovered brubaker and lark might be able to ably succeed bendis/maleev. if not, we can always revisit ‘hardcore‘.

~ also, we were unable to get our paws on a copy of ‘amazing spider-man’ #529. who knew that ‘asm’ would sell out? that is like being told, ‘we are all out of coke.’ if anyone has an extra copy, you can send it to our box.

~ bush is pissed that a christian in afghanistan is scheduled to be executed for being a christian in afghanistan:

“It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because he chose a different religion over another.” -gwbush

didn’t we march freedom into that place years ago? we sponsored the afghan’s writing of their own constitution which establishes islamic law. the afghan people have spoken (‘kill all christians’), which is what we asked for, so why the bitching from bush? if our marching of freedom and spreading of democracy is to always result in islamic fundamentalist regimes, then we can skip iran – it’s already spoken for – because we know that ‘spreading democracy’ will be the next excuse for invading iran once the administration realizes that every sensible listener will hear the claim that iran is moments away from transforming dallas into a mushroom cloud and know that is bullshit they have heard before.

~ to those vegans who cared that l’oreal is buying the body shop: tom’s of maine sells out to colgate [enn.com].

~ after two (2) visits to the vet(s) phobos was diagnosed with conjunctivitis; after a week of ophthalmic drops, his eyes have cleared, and we recommend cat vet of south street whilst unrecommending girard veterinary clinic.

~ we do not know if anyone still uses lipstick or soap and shops in the mall, but we wonder if groups like peta [w] will still recommend body shop, now that it has been purchased by l’oreal, a notorious abuser of animals, according to bbc [w].