Then allow me to sum up the metaphorical underpinnings of Gem society using this balloon animal of Robert Frost.

I prefer to imagine the Gems watching an old filmstrip from a high school Health class. Their faces alone would be priceless.

Whoa, let's not say things we can't take back.

Revenge!

As I recall his original quote was in the context of going to a fast-food joint after a run, but clearly it also works for lazier adults.

To paraphrase a friend of mine, adulthood is saying to yourself "I'd really like a milkshake right now," and realizing you have the means to make that happen.

We've never seen him having any kind of boss, so I just assumed he worked his way up. Maybe he took over when the old owner retired? I'm thinking sort of along the lines of the chapter breaks in Grim Fandango, where Manny ends the chapter as a janitor or sailor and starts the next one as the owner or captain.

Well, we've officially seen the beginning of Rose's plan to commit suicide.

Perhaps they're all just avid duelists.

It's been three weeks since the last exterminator visit with no obvious bites. Fingers crossed.

That sounds awesome.

I got my classic adventure game jollies this year playing the remastered Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle for the first time. They're just so delightfully friendly. Games grappling with the darkness of the human condition are admirable and all, but sometimes you just want to hang out in cool locations with fun…

Itchy. Hungry.

So far my least favorite game this year has been Kill The Bedbugs, which I'm hoping to quit playing soon. I'm going for a genocide run but it's pretty damn hard.

Hold your tongue!

What a charming euphemism.

Neat! I went just before they made the move to LA, at the invitation of Tom DiMascio, who teaches at the grad school I attended at the time. I too got to hold an original copy of Action #1, plus Sensation Comics #1 for good measure (safely bagged, of course). It was super cool.

They comics publishers themselves also do this. When I took a tour of DC's old New York HQ, for instance, I got to see their library, where they have leather-bound volumes of just about everything they've ever published.

I go to NYCC because I live in New York. I used to go to WonderCon back when both it and I were in San Francisco. I am a lazy lazy man.

Old World Blues is the best.