North American Schools - places of higher learning or just somewhere to DIE prematurely...?

This undated handout photo provided by Nova Scotia Agricultural College shows Jocelyn Couture-Nowak (R.I.P.), left, and her husband Jerzy Nowak. (AP File/CP/ HO)

The question can be asked - considering that, for instance, one of my old "alma mater" - the University of Montreal - has over 30 pavillions and only 5, count'em, FIVE security guards, ONLY, to oversee them all...!

Another question that came to me, as I was reflecting about today's youth in the days leading up to this tragedy (not that I have medium foresight and knew it was about to happen - no! My claim to be an L.P. - a luminous psychic - does not entail that much uncanny ability to tell the future...) - how many Blackberries have lost their owners in Blacksburg, VA.?
Easy -and morbid- pun to make, I know; but EVERYONE of a certain age and standing in this facetious society of ours simply MUST have one of those nowadays - and an iPod... And a cell phone... And laptop... And 1001 gadgets, really...

Alas, the most disturbed among us have NONE of those things - but they can get their hands on a Glock 9 mm. model - or any other handgun they want, really! And, so provided with empowerment, they can go about their grisly business of revendicating for themselves much media attention, in the most sickening of all ways to make some noise and garner short-lived fame - and infamy.

I heard another so-called "expert" (with a degree in either psychology, sociology or "psychopathy"...?!?) lament and downright denounce the fact that the media will now spend days and weeks giving this "worthless being" all that he sought in going over the edge and losing it completely - even if methodically... He will get all the fame he sought now - his "worthless life" will be remembered, if only because of what he did, for a long time to come (until the world ends, probably...)
His is the sought-after prize: evidence, and spectacular evidence at that, that he LIVED - that he was THERE; and sure as hell will be a bottomless pit of brimstone, he left his mark all over the place there, indeed...

But was this "worthless killer" really worthless? Does his life have no worth at all - because of what he wound up doing? Would that expert dare say that 75% of the rest of this world's population is worthier than him - simply because they did not act out their darkest fantasies? He was a human being - so were his 32 victims. ALL were flawed creatures - and so are the rest of the world's population. No one can deem anyone else of being outright "worthless" - because no one's contributions are FOREVER. NOTHING IS FOREVER.

The killer was, of course, very wrong to think that his heinous actions would garner him forever fame - all it will get him of an eternal and forevermore value is a ticket to the Pit! But the expert who destroyed him so completely and mercilessly is totally wrong too - for, for lesser sins than his, she and anyone else could wind up in the same damned place too...
Besides, it is so silly to behold any so-called expert denounce an abominable being like this - when we know full well that, were that man still alive, he'd get a prolonged trial that would make damn sure that ALL of his rights were respected... Are those worthless rights than, respected in a worthless manner as a part of a worthless process inherent to a worthless so-called judicial system...?!?

I heard of a story years ago - some black woman went into a WalMart - bought her ANTIDEPRESSANT PRESCRIPTION DRUGS... bought herself some junk food too... and bought herself a GUN, of course... And then, the combined effects of all of her purchases left, if memory serves me right, two dead and several injured by the wayside...

In the wake of this tragic incident at Virginia Tech, gun reform is a MUST in the U.S. - there is no way that they can leave things be, when any crazy off the street can easily access ownership of a lethal weapon at a retailer such as WalMart - the alleged family-friendly one-stop shopping experience where everything costs less... The unwanted side-effect is that LIFE is devalued too; as the prices are chopped, so are lives...

The media focus should by all means be on the victims whose lives were shortened by this MAJOR oversight on gun control... Some have whipped up reports on the webpage phenomenon: where the victims's personal pages on popular sites such as MySpace.com became, overnight, a repository for many eulogies about the departed ones...

I had no idea that the favorite niece of a dear friend of mine had been among the thirty-two victims; I learned of it when the dear friend in question told me of the sad truth, while I was still pondering what to write here on the tragic event.


Any lives that are cut short or hampered in any way in their natural progress are to be mourned - remembered - eulogized.

And never forgotten.

2 Years Ago

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Comic Book Deaths - nothing "comic" about it...

No, I do not mean Captain America...



Nor do I mean Deadman - although his creator, Arnold Drake, just passed away indeed... DEATH has been very busy making sure comic-book CREATORS take note that when it strikes, no one can come back (save for Divine Intervention...) - so that, maybe, comic-bookie scribes and (pr)editors will want to stop trivializing the passage from this world into the next...?
(And when I say "the next", I do not mean alternate realities, other dimensions, "pocket universes", "bottled realms/cities", "elseworlds", "hypertime" type planes of existence, alternate timelines or "mirror universes" - none of that crap, no!)


Dave Cochrum - at only 63 years of age, Legion of Super-Heroes and X-Men artist D.C. (!) passed away, of complications from diabetes, back in November 2006.
His widow, Paty had been very vocal about her dislike of Marvel, both her husband's former employer as her own (she had worked in the infamous Marvel Bullpen.)
Was there some form of malicious/psychic backlash, generated by one of those accursed Marvel mutants, against her beloved husband?
Doubtful - but Joe Quesada's evil eye, alone, could cause some discomfort to the best of them, I am sure...
Mr. Cochrum had created a lot of "cool characters" for the new X-Men - Storm and Nightcrawler notably - as well as eventual DC property Tyr, who was going to be a part of the new X-Men but, instead, wound up in the Legion of Super-Heroes' rogues gallery, where he would have been forgotten for the remarquable chance to be selected to get his own first-rate action figure done -against all odds in many ways- as a part of the Super Powers line from 1985. Tyr was thus given that treatment long before the X-Men were - I am at a loss though as to whether Dave Cochrum got any percentage at all from the sales of his character's figure. Though his creation and all, DC is notorious to not give creators their due (see more about that in Arnold Drake's eulogy - and in assorted obituaries throughout this site, whenever DC comes up...!) Dave Cochrum was every bit as good for the Legion as Steve Lightle was - and he was every bit as good for teams such as The Champions and the X-Men as George Perez had been for the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (and MUCH better than John Byrns had been to the latter team... My opine! Paty Cochrum has her opine too! Sue us both - why don't you, Marr-v-hell...)
Dave Cochrum is sorely missed.
Much courage to you, Paty.


Martin Nodell - the man who came up with the idea for the Golden Age Green Lantern "after seeing a New York subway train operator waving a lantern with a green light" (who said riding the subway was a waste of time) died last December at his home in Muskego, Wisconsin. He was 91. Mr. Nodell had also helped develop the character of the Pillsbury Doughboy, as it turns out - he had left the comic-book industry in the 1960s to go into advertising, see... The Green Lantern and the Pillsbury Doughboy are, cousins thus - who knew. And both are bereaved now; and orphans.
My condolences to the Nodells - belatedly.
(Hey - I am bereaved too; and awaiting condolences from some parties that, I know, will NEVER come forth... Not even belatedly!!!)


Arnold Drake - the creator of Doom Patrol, Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadman is, hence, a dead man as well now. He was 83 - he had just celebrated his birthday, in fact, and was hospitalized days later, to die a few days into said hospitalization ultimately. His gravestone will bear similar markings than those on my father's - as both were born and passed on in the same month of March. Arnold Drake had similat bad luck to mine, to boot - although basically luckier for starters (he was commissioned by a publisher to come up with concepts - me, I sent them in, unsolicited... His were picked up, mine were not.)
He saw his Doom Patrol have the misfortune of coming out virtually at the same time than similarly-themed X-Men; and the latter project eventually became extremely successful, while his did not. He conceptualized "Stanley & His Monster" way before a certain well-known cartoonist came up with the hugely popular Calvin And Hobbes - both have striking similarities too, but not the same degree of success, at all.
Only Deadman (pictured below) remains, as his lone "great success" - yet it is too eclectic and sophisticated (as, also, close to the truth) to meet with wide approval from the masses. Arnold Drake fought the good fight too: he championed the cause of his fellow older creators who were not properly taken care of in their latter days by the publishers who'd enriched themselves at their expense. He fought editorial thick-headedness - to the point that he was ousted unceremoniously and never again "allowed back in" (into what - an accursed nepotitical system such as that is rampant and prevailing in places such as DC, Marvel and others? Maybe one is better off out of it entirely...)
Now, Arnold Drake is admitted into a much better exclusive club: Scribesmen' Heaven!
I am sure Boston Brand showed him the way to get there by now...
Rest In Peace, Arnold Drake.



Marshall Rogers - only 57, Marshall passed away in late March of "unknown causes", originally... A stroke could be the cause although, at lugubrious blogging time, the true causes had not been revealed. An artist of great talent, Rogers had drawn a plethora of eclectic characters; but his best known work remains that which he rendered on the damnable Batman. At least Rogers had more integrity than most - he did not sell out and simply keep churning out Batty material in a market already saturated with it...
Marshall Rogers was the best - and he got so few chances to display it.
Sounds like someone I know, once more... But I am digressing, again...


R.I.P. guys




Boston Brand - aka Deadman

No April's Fool's Day joke.

I was standing on the surface of wet ground today, last year...

An excavated ominous piece of ground...

The forklift truck nearby,  waiting to cover up the hole again...

After we were done -  lowering the priceless box deep into the ground...

Deep... As in six feet under...

On a first of April  - because it was a Sabbat -  the true day of the Lord
Mother's wishes
Hey - her husband; her call to make...
But gee...
We're not jewish!
Anyway...

I need you so much closer

Than what you are now - my best friend

Rest In Peace

Rejoice With The Lord

We Shall See Each Other Again

AMEN
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Music Video:HOW TO SAVE A LIFE (by The Fray)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

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