Tag: Flash

Posted on
by

Opera Software has just released a new beta version of the desktop web browser, Opera 9.50 beta 2. The splash page makes me think of something a bit different, though:

Opera 9.5 beta
Speed, security, and performance matter.

Now, we’ve made the fastest browser in the world even faster. Opera’s new beta is quicker to start, faster at loading Web pages and better at running your favorite Web applications.

Hmm, a red and yellow blur, zooming across the view? And an emphasis on speed? That reminds me a bit of this guy:

The Flash

Opera has long promoted itself on its speed, and it has used a super-hero theme in its advertising before. The vaguely Superman-like* “Opera Man” was used heavily in advertising Opera 8, despite being ridiculed by most of the browser’s user community.

So why not a subtle reference to the Flash?

*Blue costume + red cape. Hey, if a blue shirt and red jacket work for Clark on Smallville, you know the color scheme has become iconic.

Posted on
by

One of the cool things I discovered at WonderCon was this T-shirt with the emblem of the Black Flash, the personification of death for speedsters and the only Flash villain that Davan MacIntire likes. Okay, it’s just the regular Flash logo with the colors changed, but it means I’ll actually wear it.

Black Flash T-Shirt

I’ve never really liked wearing bright colors, especially not bright red. I have a standard red Flash T-shirt that may be 15 years old, but I’ve probably only worn it 5 or 6 times (mainly at cons), so it still looks almost new. The silk-screen printing is only just now starting to crack. But black T-shirts? Never had a problem with them. At one point, I had so many that I declared a moratorium on getting any new ones.

At the last 3 or 4 cons I’ve been to, I’ve been idly looking for a black T-shirt with the Flash logo, but hadn’t stumbled across any until last month. This will do nicely.

Posted on
by

I’ve had parts of this in draft form for at least 2 years. Last night, while brushing my teeth, I decided to pick it up with a new approach. This morning, I jotted down a couple of notes. And earlier this evening I saw Comics Should Be Good’s post, Where do you buy your comics?—and realized the time had come to actually finish the darn thing.

How I searched for back issues of comics in…

1988:

  1. Look at the local comic store.
  2. Wait for a convention that my parents were going to.

1998:

  1. Look at the local comic store.
  2. Drive around to other stores.
  3. Save up for San Diego Comic-Con.
  4. Look on this new site called eBay.

2008:

  1. Look at a couple of local comic stores.
  2. Look on eBay and Mile High Comics (singles)
  3. Look on eBay and Amazon (for trades & hardcovers)
  4. Look at a convention.
  5. Look for other sources on the net.

Two main things have changed: mobility (I couldn’t drive when I was 12) and the web. Continue reading →

Posted on
by

There’s been a surprising number of visitors today to my post about getting up at 2:30 A.M. for last August’s lunar eclipse. Strangely enough, they’re not only looking for the same phrase, “lunar eclipse pictures,” but they have the exact same referrer, down to options and encoding. The fp-today parameter leads me to suspect that some module on Yahoo’s homepage (not one I can see, though) included a link to this set of search results. Though I suppose it could have been a newsletter or a blog with more regular readers than mine.

Another surprise: visits from commentary on last night’s Clinton/Obama debate. The comment thread includes a link to my post on JMS’s Londo/G’Kar campaign signs. Found while skimming the comments for links: T-shirts for the Capricorn ticket, Roslin/Airlock.

And then there’s the surge in searches for the Black Flash, no doubt inspired by people reading today’s Something Positive strip. In addition to landing directly on the profile, people are coming in from the Wikipedia article, and finding Flash Foreshadowing via an image search.

Posted on
by

Last week, Comic Book Resources broke the news that Mark Waid is leaving The Flash after his first story arc ends in #236, and Tom Peyer is taking over with #238. There’ve been a slew of interviews on the subject, and I wanted to get the links all in one place: