'm picking up where I left off way back in the cold days of December:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Now that that's out of the way, I would be lying if I told you RadioGoDaddy.com's choosing of LIPP for a Strange Domain Award didn't make me get up off my ass and write a new episode.

But, before I continue on and on (I'm in a writing mood) about that, I'd like to toss a clue to those who might not understand any one specific reference in the three panels noted above:

• Panel 2: Star Trek: Generations. At the end of the movie, with salvage goods from the wrecked USS Enterprise in her arms, Counselor Troy proclaims: "I have a feeling this won't be the last USS Enterprise."
  
  My friend Steve boldy added, "Well, no shit -- if you know anything about franchises."
   
• Panel 3: Contact. While at college, I wandered into a friend's dorm room while taking a break from writing a particularly annoying research paper. He happened to be a few minutes into Contact. I grabbed a seat on some cheap Target dorm room furnishing and decided anything was better than the abomination of Advanced Research Methods. The movie kicked ass.
  
  (I took a similar break and accidentally wandered into his room again while he was only minutes into The Shawshank Redemption, another excellent movie.)
   
• Panel 4: Fight Club. This panel actually happened to me. During the course of my collegiate career, I had three moron dorm roommates. One moron in particular had a moron friend who lived next door to us. After specifically stating that I hadn't seen Fight Club but was planning to that night, moron-roommate's moron-next-door-friend asked me if I knew Tyler Durden and Ed Norton were the same person the entire time.
  
  He was completely oblivious to my roundabout way of saying, "I'm seeing it tonight for the first time, so don't fuck up the ending for me." A true moron.

Now that that's out of the way: hello to you, someone who likely stumbled upon this site through a recommendation by Radio GoDaddy. I must say, I was quite surprised to find my site was picked for a Strange Domain Award.

From what I've heard of the show, Nima Jones chooses which sites are featured. Who's involved beyond that, I have no idea. I'm looking forward to the free Strange Domains Award t-shirt. Finally, third-party hardcopy proof that I'm a weird bastard.

I mean, yeah. It's strange. I dig strange. I also dig a few other adjectives thrown LIPP's way, such as:

• quirky
• genius
• hilarious
• vulgar language-laiden
• batshit insane idea

Further along the Radio GoDaddy host lines, I understand Nima will throw someone else under the bus if Bob Parsons doesn't like the site. So, I hope Bob likes the site. I don't want to be the unwitting precipitate to some poor guy's ass-kicking at the GoDaddy offices.

Now, it's time to butter you, my newfound reader, up a little bit. Thank you for stopping on by. Do you know why I'm buttering you up?

I'm quite interested in taking full advantage of what various forms of mass communication have to offer. For instance, website plugs on XM/Sirius satellite radio shows and suggestive text on an internet website.

Therefore, I offer you another bullet-point list with my needs and some information about the site -- but mostly just my needs. I mean, come on.

• First and foremost, I owe money to various debtors.
   
  • For teaching me in four years how to make a living in the "real world," the government decided to help me out. Unfortunately, "help" is a four-letter word, and reimbursement is currently underway.
     
  • Getting from Point A to Point B is often a necessity. How fast I get there depends on wether or not I pay the financial outlet that's letting me keep the car now sitting outside.
     
• The computer containing important programs and working files for LIPP is dying a slow, painful death. I could really use a replacement.
   
• I like motorcycles. Specifically, Harley Davidsons. Even more specifically, FLSTF/FLSTFI Fat Boys. I could really use two more wheels and lots of sexy, sexy chrome.
   
• I'm a big fan of finding random links in my tracker. If you feel enough love for LIPP that you'd like to support it in a non-monetary way, link to LIPP (though I won't argue with monetary donations).
   
• It's times like this that I wish I had an Amazon.com Wish List.

And now, more about the site, according to what you may or may not hear on the show tonight:

• LIPP was originally created with just a couple comics as a joke between some friends and I. There was nothing to do on a Tuesday night. To alleviate some boredom, I pointed a camera at posed LEGO characters and began clicking away.
   
• For some reason, the format often ran either one frame or six frames. Anything in between was a rarity.
   
• A few of LIPP's episodes were inspired by actual events, such as this exchange (minus the olde english linguistics) as LIPP's co-writer Loaf and I played cards in high school.
   
• I just recently started using speech bubbles, and I credit the use to my practicing with Refugees From Planet Cartridge, a side-project I played with for about a year. Episodes revolved around various old-school Atari and arcade game characters. I originally came up with the idea after buying and playing Dragon's Lair.
   
• LIPP's popularity has stretched to a number of universities. A friend of mine promptly contacted me when she overheard three people in a cafetiria at Purdue talking about LIPP.
   
• I'm told LIPP has reached cult-like status with a number of people in Arizona. I'm not kidding about this.

And finally this afternoon, a "regular" site news update.

I picked up Serenity a few days ago, strictly based on reviews I've seen online. Everyone's sporting some kind of great big woody about Joss Whedon nowadays. Ever fearful of the enjoyment-numbing hype, I decided to snag Serenity anyway.

There were a few times in the movie when lines could've been predictably cheesy. There were scenes that could've played out to be incredibly lame or physics-bending fake in execution. There were characters that could've had me wishing for their own untimely demise by the end of the movie.

Fortunately for me, my twenty bucks, and my "should've known better than to give the benefit of the doubt" mentality, none of that happened. I must say, I'm quite impressed.

I'm set on picking up Firefly, the TV show that spawned Serenity. Firefly -- as any fan of the show knows -- lived an unfortunate, short life. Checking out Firefly on Amazon.com surprised me: the average customer review is five stars, and that's after 2,068 reviews. That's a rare occurrence. Why networks ditch out on the shows people love, I'll never know.

Titus fell prey to the premature departure as well. From what I understand, the production crew went on strike. When the strike was settled, the crew was making more money than the production was taking in. As a result, the cost to produce the show took a sharp turn into some red ink and -- thusly -- was cut.

I could be wrong. Maybe I'm the only person who giggled madly when Dave set the garbage can on fire at the very end of Season 1, Episode 2: "Sex With Pudding."

If you've got the need, feel free to drop me a line at jackson.marten@hotmail.com.

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