I met Daniel M. Davis, owner of Steam Crow Press, when I was at the Phoenix Comicon. He’s an intensely creative guy, and as it turns out, a Barack Obama supporter, just like me. Daniel and I are working on something wonderful together, and during our conversation this morning, I asked him if I could share this poster he made with WWdN readers. We did the secret Obamamaniac handshake, and he said it would be cool.

You can click the image to go to the Steam Crow website, where there’s an embiggened version of the poster, as well as a ton of awesome illustrations, including some weird and wonderful monsters and other creatures who will follow you home.

My friend Otis, who I worked with at the 2006 WSOP in Vegas for the PokerStars blog, wrote an awesome story about how I indirectly traumatized his son, with my recommendation of the Color Coded Criminals shirt from Threadless:

Wil Wheaton (a guy who will occasionally refer to himself as West Coast Otis), tipped me off to the shirt a few days ago.  He and I occasionally get into the same things.  This shirt was one of them.

“Is Mr. Orange a baby?” my son asked. 

My wife sensed that I was struggling to accomodate my son’s curiosity without telling the whole story.

“He’s crying like a baby,” my wife said. I half expected her to say,
“Hey, just cancel that shit right now! You’re hurt. You’re hurt really
fucking bad, but you ain’t dying. Say the goddamn words! You’re gonna
be okayyyyyy!”

You’ve got to read the entire thing, because while what I’ve quoted is funny, it’s really just set up for the fantastic payoff. While you’re there, read some more of Otis’ blog, and you may understand why I can never tell where West Coast Otis ends and East Coast Wil begins.

It looks like I picked up a touch of the convention sars at Wizard World: sore throat, coughing my guts out, massive headache, and other upper respiratory stuff that is too disgusting even for me to describe.

So I’m back onto the goddamn couch for at least 24 hours. At least this time I have LEGO Star Wars 2 to keep me entertained. It’s fun to play, really cute, and hilarious. I’m only into story mode on Episode IV, but if the whole game is as entertaining as it’s been so far, I’m going to give it a massive thumbs up.

Four things, however, that I wanted to mention while I can fucos long enough to mention them:

Thing the first: Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday. I don’t have anything profound to say, but 2001 was one of the most important movies I ever saw, way back when I was a young geekling in 1987. It was in the Cinerama dome, a special screening one afternoon, and I wouldn’t have known it was playing if I hadn’t been doing some ARD recording for Star Trek at Modern Sound across the street. There were only a dozen or so people in the theater, but seeing it on that screen, in that setting, increased its already power over me by several orders of magnitude. I bought Clarke’s book on the way home, and read it in the next two days. There’s an amusing image, I’m sure, of me in the horrible rainbow uniform, sitting in Engineering or something, reading 2001.

Bonus that I didn’t know until yesterday: he pretty much invented the geosynchronous satellite. In 1941. Holy. Shit.

Thing the second: Barack Obama’s speech "A More Perfect Union" yesterday is one of the most inspiring and wonderful political speeches I’ve ever heard. He wrote it himself, too. Not a consultant, not a speech writer. He did it. That’s phenomenal. He talked to us like we were grown-ups, and addressed something Americans have needed to deal with for decades. It brought tears to my eyes, inspired me, and reaffirmed why I’m so proud to support him.

Thing the third: Today is the 5th anniversary of the beginning of George W. Bush’s disaster in Iraq. Does it surprise anyone that this man, who has run every single business he’s had into the ground, has done the same to our country?

Thing the fourth: I’m smart enough to separate the soldier from the war. Having said that, It’s important to me to sincerely thank and honor the men and women who have served, and are continuing to serve, in our armed forces.

Oh, last thing: Ryan came home for spring break (rather than run off to some idiot fest with idiots. I’m really proud of him for making safe and mature choices.)

Last night, I made a veggie stirfry with ginger rice and tofu. I served it with some tamari and Sriracha sauce on the table. I love Sriracha sauce, but I know how insanely hot it is, so I always put just a few drops on, mix it up, and apply more if I feel like it as I eat.

Nolan, however, put it on his dish like frosting.

"What in the world are you doing?" I said.

"I’m putting my chili sauce on like a man," he said, "not like a pansy."

Nolan took a bite of his food, and his face turned as red as the sauce.

"Yeah," he said, in a pinched voice, "that’s the stuff right there!"

I took a bite of my food.

"How’s your dinner treating you?" Nolan said to me.

"It’s good," I said. "I don’t need as much hot sauce as I used to, because after my surgery, I can taste food a lot better than before."

"And you’re a pansy," he said.

Ryan put his chopsticks down, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and said, "The difference between you and him, Nolan, is that he’s enjoying his food, and you’re enduring it."

"Owned," Anne said.

It’s good to have Ryan home. He’s grown up a lot since he was here two months ago, and it’s nice to have my whole family back under the same roof, even if it’s only for a week.

Okay, that’s all for now. Back to Sars Wars. (Ha! Ha! Ha!)

Oh my god, there’s a giant steampunk robot, and they’re fighting on top of it. With cutlasses.

CUTLASSES!

Much more beauty and wonder at io9.