Updates abound! Yes, the promised reviews aren't in, but I felt the Haiti has more than taken prominence this week over my half-spell checked rants about books. [Please, please, please support aid efforts if you can but clicking the link above]

So let's begin critiquing the internet. To begin this quasi-periodical series of webcomic reviews, is a very old one, and one of the first which I began following in 2003 or so, Nukees by Darren Bleuel.

Following the adventures of a group of nuclear engineering (Nuc.E) graduate students, I took to this easily given various references to physics humor (yes, us geeks have our own jokes), and somewhat skewed reality. The story lines and humor centers upon Gav, whom is best described as the megalomaniacal mad scientist wannabe whom establishes himself as Alpha geek in the Stanford engineering department.

As any good webcomics geek should, digging into the archives places one in the AOL-era Internet of 1997 when Bleuel (a then grad student at the university) began posting his campus newspaper a generalized slice-of-life strip regarding departmental humor, (grad) student life, and campus culture. Through the late nineties and early aughts, however, Nukees quickly departs into a somewhat surreal development of Gav and his friends as they explore and exploit the world through the power of a gigantic robotic ant, journeys through the legal system, the afterlife, relationships, beer, and other general metaphysical entities.

Written for the pure science nerd at heart, Nukees has kept it's fan-base of physics and engineering geeks at the core of humor, in spite of the frequent wanderings in the plot line. In particular, one would be remiss to forget Bleuel's arguably greatest contribution to geek culture, Agnostica, created within the Nukees world in the December of 1999. Beginning on December 14 (the 99^th anniversary of the presentation of Planck's theory of quantized energy-- the birth of quantum physics), and extending to an indeterminate date (in consideration with the Uncertainty Principle), Agnostica is a fiercely secular celebration of logic, the beauty of the natural world, uncertainty, and ultimately, the spirit of giving. Amazingly, this self-prclaimed geek holiday has curiously sprung-up within certain circles with joyous celebration of physics, math, and glögg.

Although Bleuel's work has clearly undergone metamorphoses through the last thirteen years, the strip itself (both in artistic style and writing) peaked somewhere in the range of 2002-2004, and has in recent years been relatively static on both these accounts. While there has been a greater degree of character development since mid-decade, many of the plots tend of be of the nature of rambling episodes which stretch over the course of months to get to any sort of conclusion. The slice-of-life style of the early strip is now long passed, and the innate weirdness of particular plots (Giant Ant, Danny's Inferno) have seemed to given way to relatively weak stories wherein the reader, at most times, in unsure as to the direction and ultimate point of the author's intentions. While the whole of the story-arc has been sub-divided into sixty-odd pieces, these "chapters" are generally only defined long after they have been completed, making introduction for new readers difficult. While site design isn't particularly something of which I take note (so long as I can find what I'm looking for), Nukees.com has a very strong Web 1.0 feel, having undergone little revision in many years (news updates are seasonal at best).

This is not to say that Bleuel has done a poor job. As one of the longest-running comics I read, Nukees has a distinct credibility in never posting late. While Gav began as a loose caricature of the author, the years have since proven Gav_author to have real-life capacities far beyond that of Gav_character in organizing the Keenspot network of webcomics (through which I discovered Nukees), the International Random Bag of Fun (see "Agnostica"), his own research, in addition to the regular strip and its book, Nukees: d/dx.

Final call: more physics, less drama. Keep the funny
Grades:

Humor: B
Artwork: C+
Story lines: B-
Characters: B
Schedule: A+
Creativity: B-

I am far too entertained when watching my cat do something stupid. Honestly. I just spent about five minutes observing him smack a box of candy with his paw.

In addition, Meg and I bought Across the Universe last weekend and I have not been able to get the Beatles out of my head since. A point was raised, however, when watching this 1960s musical melodrama about the generations. (Yes, both my parents and parents-in-law watched this too with commentary). There is a point, however, in specifically the parallels between the Vietnam and Iraq Wars.

There are certainly a lot of people angry about Bush's War, both home and abroad, much like the unfortunate mistake forty years ago, but we are without the protests, the activism, the marching. I am as guilty of this lethargy as so many others. It is certainly understandable the the nature of the world itself has changed, and for the better is many respects; this is particularly poignant when viewed through the lens of the internet (is that supposed to be capitalized?). There is without a doubt no shortage of web-activism, but I feel that many of us are removed from this. Millions are on MoveOn.org's mailing lists, but do computer-generated form letters from a "Click Here to notify your congressman/senator/governor/President Bush" really have an impact?

Does social change need the classical thousands marching in the streets? I can recall only one major event in March of 2003, right before the beginning of Bush's War*. Personally, I long for that sort of involvement-- a desire to be a part of history. I wonder now where our place is.

We qualify as "Generation Y." I like this term because someone once argued against it by saying that it made us sound "cynical and jaded" which I think astutely describes the wave of Americans born roughly between 1980 and 1993. Gen Y now enters into the beginnings of "real world" (and there is turbulence in our landing), to the beguilement of those who came before us. We are the Americans who came of age in a time of tribulation, of disaster, of change upon us whether we wanted it or not; and as we age, the older ones will step to the side and this will be ours. And our responsibility to solve for the latter end of the 21^st century. It has yet to be determined how the Boomer Generation's impact on the world will be measured let alone ours.

Anyone have any thoughts?

* I'm trying to propagate the term "Bush's War" as the name for the current conflict. This is nice and egalitarian. Those who think of this war as good will always remember who led them to this glory, and those who hate it will always remember whose fault it is. Either way, I want history to remember this one as the act of our leaders and not of our nation