Here's why I liked playing in Auburn, Alabama with County Line. You can't tell in the picture, but they're dressed like schoolgirls. And they seem to like one another.
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved

Two DVDs (and a microphone...)

Lesson learned for the day:

Never, ever tempt a man who is the keeper of the off-site backup for your photo collection.

There's a story behind the picture linked above, too. Y'see, I was a somewhat rebellious youth, and had no compunctions about wearing tie-dyed t-shirts, growing my hair out and even wearing a cool li'l peace sign necklace.

I'm about 16 years old in that picture, by the way. It was taken the summer before my senior year at Claxton High School when I was at the Governor's Honors Program at Valdosta State University.

Cropped out is the very nice flute player named Leah that I was friends with. Eddie's probably also got the pictures of Stephanie Kampfer in the archive, too... now she was a hottie!

The pain!

Nothing's sadder than good writers who have to post pictures of their cat in their blog just to get attention.

So here's a picture of Eric Lee Beddingfield. There's a joke in there somewhere involving Eric and synonyms for "cat," but I'm checking myself right here and now.
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved

Read the cutline for the picture below this one. Contest time!
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved

Yes, that's me in a Humvee. And with a helmet on. Triple points to whoever makes the best story in the "comments" section incorporating the two pictures. People who actually know what I was doing are disqualified. Be creative, folks.
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved

Tuesday, part 1

Self-portrait, unhappy in room 110 at the McDonough, Ga. Days Inn.
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved

Tuesday, part 2

The reason I'm unhappy. Yes, that's my car.
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved

Beetle Bailey and the decline of Indian civilization.

Today's Beetle Bailey sunday cartoon was sad! You can't have a sad Beetle Bailey cartoon!

Must be some kind of subtle anti-war protest on the part of the Walker family, I guess.

Sorry I couldn't provide a link straight to the cartoon - they're a couple of weeks behind on the official Beetle site. My search for the link did provide me with some history on Private Bailey, however.

He entered college in 1950, and the next year he screwed up and enlisted in the Army just in time for the Korean Conflict. I don't know that Beetle's ever served anywhere but stateside, but... geez... 54 years as a private?

Can you imagine what kinds of acts go on outside the funny pages that keep Beetle and his cohorts from getting any promotions for a half-century?

Things like... (links definitely NOT SAFE FOR WORK)

(or sanity)

this,

this,

or (Dear sweet Jesus!) this.

I know that last one is "ahht", but... wow. How much time did they spend carving that?

Where was I? Oh yeah - can you imagine what would have happened if the kids from Camp Swampy had run Abu Gharib?

Maybe the Iraqis got off light by not having Private Bailey overseeing the prison. Speaking of hazing, turns out that Beetle and company were based on some frat boys.

There was brief discussion about making this our front page tease for the entertainment page. Kathy, probably wisely, felt that it would cause some uproar.

I love the shot, though... no pun intended. It's Jonathan Murphy as "Ralph Rackstraw" in the GSU Opera production of "H.M.S. Pinafore."
Copyright Jake Hallman/all rights reserved