Erik Geiger's Blog

I heard of Christopher Reeve's death this morning. Since I never knew him, I can't say I'm personally affected by his death, but I was saddened. Partly because I admired the way he coped with his paralysis, and partly because Superman was an important icon of my childhood, and because Reeve personified Superman to my generation.
Reeve's Superman movie came out in 1978, when I was 12 years old, and is quite possibly the last movie my whole nuclear family went out to see together. We saw it at the Orpheum theater, in Madison, WI.
Superman had been my favorite as a kid. I had countless second hand issues of Action Comics, Superman, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Gilrfriend, Lois Lane and Adventure Comics, starring Supergirl. Show me any Krypton related title, and I was there. I knew who Lori Lemaris and Bizzaro #1 were and I knew how to send Mr. Mxyzptlk back to his own dimension. I could tell you the effect on Kryptonians of any color of Kryptonite. Any time I managed to wheedle my mom into buying me a Giant Sized edition at the supermarket, my whole afternoon was suddenly booked solid.
By the age of 12, I had somewhat outgrown Superman, but the movie was letter perfect. Reeve nailed the role, and brought the hero back to life for me, at a time when I really needed one. Still, darker heros like Han Solo or Indiana Jones appealed to me more, and when I later discovered the novels of Heinlein, and other science fiction authors, I left comics behind for years. These days comics are an intermittant pursuit for me. Superhero comics are a guilty pleasure, and pale in comparison to the more interesting works by Gaiman, Miller, Moore and others. However, I'm grateful to Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster and Christoper Reeve for that piece of my childhood, and I'll miss Reeve now that he's gone.

Paul Allen's Spaceship One has taken the X-Prize. It's about fucking time! For decades sci-fi authors have been promising us the marvels of the future - cheap spaceflight, cloud cities, ray guns. Finally the future I've been waiting for is coming to pass. Now where do I line up for my android sex slave?

I've developed a simple, usable and foolproof method for evaluating the veracity of a politician's claims. If I can see him, I can tell if he's lying.

I carefully watch his facial expressions - when people are telling the truth, their expressions flow in a natural way. When they lie, they often stiffen up and stare straight ahead.
I watch where his eyes are going, up to the left, he's lying, up to the right, he's remembering.
I watch his posture for changes or shifts. If someone is telling a lie that they aren't comfortable with, it may be revealed in their posture.

Finally, I watch his lips - if they're moving, he's lying.