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The considerably delayed construction of City Hall is to begin this Friday at 8 pm muck time, with a brief ceremony and groundbreaking. The grand opening is then to be set for a parallel ceremony November 13, again at 8 pm.

There is to be construction work during that week, as progress demands. All who would like to participate in this civic development are encouraged to do so. The details of the building and of the services offered via City Hall are open to discussion and suggestion, either in person, page mail, or board discussion.

Please be open-minded considering the services and activities that could be offered through City Hall. It is hoped this will build municipal connections and this calls for imagination and experimentation.

Thank you.

Spindizzians ventured to the house of Cora, local bear, on the 23rd of October for a most spook-tacular Halloween Party. This being a Halloween party, Cora had decorated her backyard as a spooky (but not overly so) cemetary and served juicy frankenstein-furters and hammy-burgers with all the trimmings to keep the guests' hungers at bay.

Because this was a Halloween themed event, everyone was encouraged to come in costume, and there were several creative ones to be had! Argon, local centaur, for example, came as a centaur shaped bag filled with the noble gas that is his namesake, while Bunnyhugger, local devilbunny, came as a carousel bunny complete with harness and saddle. Cora herself dressed as a witch.

It would have been a run of the mill Halloween party had it not been for the arrival of a pack of hungry zombie hyenas. Fortunately Cora (who had acquired witchly powers in the spirit of the season) magicked into existance effigies of Bunnyhugger and Chitter (two of the party goers) made from raw burger meat. The hyenas feasted on these and bothered the guests no more.

Cora deemed the party a smashing success and promised even bigger parties later. "Just wait till you see what I do for Christrmas dears!" she is quoted as saying.

Here's a picture of Darius, local ferret, hugging the SpinDizzy server. He was quoted as saying "Servers need hugs, too!".

Well, it isn't actually Darius. As we all know, Darius is a cute little ferret, sometimes a wah, and... well, the individual in this picture is a human being so it can't be the Darius we know and love. After grilling Darius about this inconsistancy, he finally admitted that he had a random human he'd found stand in for him. Thanks to the lovey Findra, local bunny, for the picture.

What's neat about this image is the object the human has his hands on. That is the actual server that SpinDizzy is loaded on! Our whole world here. all that we do and say and make and build, is stored right there on that rack. It's kind of hard to believe that our existance is crammed into that little box. But it's true.

Of course, being here, we can see and touch and feel all the things that make SpinDizzy the wonderful place that it is. Obviously, being here, the place is really real and perfectly exisistant.

So next time you find something about SpinDizzy to complain about (as rare and few as such things are,) remember that the whole world is contained in six inches of rack space!

Suri reports, "I typed these out back in 2002 for a Spindizzy recipe book that never went anywhere, so I thought you could maybe use them.

So here are Suri's recipies:

Suri's Onion Chili Soup

A good spicy soup for cold or rainy days. Lemurs eat this stuff all the time in cold climates.

16oz firm tofu
2 large onions (vidalia yellows work particularly well)
1/4 cup macaroni or white rice
4 medium tomatoes, as ripe as possible
1 clove garlic
1 bottle (16 oz) garden salsa
2 carrots
1/2 oz dark chili powder (approximately 1/4 of a standard spice bottle)
1/2 oz paprika
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
a dash of cilantro
a dash of ginger
a dash of soy sauce
a dash of dried hot pepper flakes
a dash of fresh-ground black pepper
a dash of salt
3 vegetable stock cubes
6 cups water

1. Drain the tofu, and press out as much of the water as possible. Take your time. The more water's removed, the better the tofu.

2. Cut the tofu into quarter-inch cubes, then sprinkle soy sauce all over the tofu. Set it aside to marinate for ten or fifteen minutes.

3. While the tofu marinates, chop the onions coarsely. You want pieces roughly the size of your little fingernail. Cut the tomatoes into large chunks. Be sure not to lose the juice and pulp. You can leave the skins on or peel them, whichever you like. Grate or finely chop the carrots. You can put the tomatoes, onions and carrots (but not the tofu) straight into the stock pot as you prepare them, if you like. It saves on cleanup.

4. Heat up the oil in a wok (best) or frying pan. Press or finely chop the garlic, and add it to the hot oil. Stir fry the marinated tofu. You can add a bit more soy sauce and/or oil during the frying if you like. You want the tofu to brown a bit, and develop a sort of skin on the outside.

5. Put the fried tofu into your stock pot with the onions, tomatoes, carrots, salsa, spices, stock cubes and water. You may want to add less than the full amount of spices right at first, and adjust to your taste as it cooks. When adding the paprika and chili powder, be sure to add slowly and stir, so it doesn't clump up. Don't add the macaroni or rice yet.

6. Let it come to a rolling boil, then back off the heat to a slow boil. Cover the pot so it doesn't cook down. After it's been cooking for ten or fifteen minutes, taste the broth and adjust the spices to your taste. The paprika is sweet and mildly hot, the dark chili powder is hot, smoky and acrid, and the flaked red peppers are just plain hot.

7. After about 40 minutes or so the onions should be completely transparent. Check the flavour one more time, and spice as necessary. You may need to add a bit of boiling water if your soup has cooked down. Now add the macaroni or rice. Stir it around good, and let it boil slowly for another 10 minutes or so, stirring now and again to prevent sticking. Now it's done.

Suri's personal favourite, although no-one else ever seems too fond of it. The recipe was her grandmother's. The flavour is much improved if it's made a day in advance, and then left to sit overnight.

3 large baking potatoes
1 large white onion
1 stick butter
water
3 cups milk
celery salt

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into half-inch chunks. Chop the onion coarsely.

2. Put the potatoes and onion into a pot with just enough water to cover them. Salt them rather heavily with celery salt.

3. Boil uncovered until the potatoes are cooked (about ten minutes or so). The water should be turning thick and sort of starchy, and losing volume.

4. Using a ladle, mash the potatoes partway. Don't do a terribly thorough job - you want some chunks left.

5. Add the milk and butter, and stir it all up. Heat the soup until the butter has all melted. Be careful not to overheat or you'll scorch the milk.

6. Best served with a little pat of butter melting in it, and s'more celery salt (or celery seed).

Suri's favourite cookie. The recipe isn't actually hers, but was apparently developed by the Bis-Quick people in the 1950s, if not before. Every few years it gets printed on the side of Bis-Quick boxes.

1 package instant pudding, any flavour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Bis-Quick
1 egg.

1. Mix everything together.

2. Form into little balls, and flatten out slightly on a cookie sheet.

3. Bake at 275° for about ten minutes, or until they start to brown.

Ever watched one of those zombie films where it may start off funny and then end up being grim, macabre struggle for survival? If you like those sorts of films, then stay away from ZombieLand. It starts off funny and keeps on being funny, even up to a hilarious, zany struggle for survival.

From the first frame, this film lived up to this reviewer’s expectations of the film first being funny and secondly involving those who have become ‘living impaired’. Shaun of the Dead started in a like vein, but became grim later on in the film. This reviewer simply wanted something fun, especially during a time where there is already sufficient seriousness. You want a serious film? Go somewhere else, this is madcap zombie-killing hilarity. Don’t expect any deep, metaphorical analysis of humanity’s society. It’s dead here! Breathe in deep the sickly-sweet scent of decay, become ill at the odor, and prepare to laugh at yourself when you become nauseous.

The ‘rules’ that are given early on in the film are things that we should all take heed even during this time of rampant vivacious activities of the populous in general, especially enjoying the little things.

Do you like to surf, or hang out on the beach, if so come to Surf Board Shack of Borris P. Bear! Owner and operator of the Surf Board Shack. Buy a Surfboard or rent one and take to the open seas, just beware of sharks. If is just wishing to hang out on the beach. Then the Surfboard shack has all your needs.

From beach towels and chairs to cold drinks and snacks. Not to mention always playing the proper beach type music. If your wishing to have a BBQ then Borris can set up all the needed items.

And if you need a custom Surf Board, feel free to stop by and discuss your design needs. Including your choice of two free weapons systems. After all, got to keep them sharks at a distance.

So come down to the Surfboard shack, bring the family and kids and spend a day hanging ten, or just kicking back on the beach, enjoying a warm summers day.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the newspaper this week!

Special thanks go to:

Beltrami, for the article on the new City Hall,
Ba'ar, for the article on cora's party,
Argon for the story on the SpinDizzy server,
Suri, for the recipies,
Mavra, for the review of 'Zombieland',
Borris, for his ad on the Surf Shack,
Patch O'Black for article Ambush Bug (part II),
Gilead, for his puns (two sets!),
And Argon, for the Doze Garden cartoon.

Greetings, folks! Last time, we looked at the early years of that silly teleporter, Ambush Bug. Well, it's time to get the rest of his tale! Hold on to your hats, folks, things are going to get silly!

After his misadventures with the Man of Steel, and one Crisis on Infinite Earths, the lovable loony finally got his own mini-series. Naturally, it was nutty as its main character. It starts out with a splash page showing an alien fleet that....has nothing to do with the story, apparently.

Then again, saying this miniseries has a "story" is being kind. What follows is a wild romp, parodying various popular trends in comic books. A chance accident leads to the balmy bug gaining a side-kick of sorts, which he dubs "Cheeks, The Toy Wonder". Who gets killed in the first issue. Don't worry, it's alright, for A.B. discovers the truth that...dead heroes sell! He gets a pizza, and comes home to find...Darkseid! This stunning ending is...totally ignored in the next issue where the main plot...and I use the term very loosely here...is that A.B. is hired to stop, get this, a giant koala! Yes, it is wrecking the city, but ain't it as cute as the dickens? Of course, he somehow manages to stop this cuddly crisis, only to be faced at the local burger joint by...Darkseid!

However, the next issue is the Ambush Bug's History of the DC universe, so this is ignored again. Ambush Bug's version of looking at the history of the DC Universe is to look at all the really absurd sidekicks, one-time characters, and other folks who have been quite rightfully forgotten and most of which got removed in the later Crisis on Infinite Earths. This ends with an appearance by....Darkseid! Next issue, Darksied is nowhere to be found. Instead, Ambush Bug gets to fight a character called Scabbard from a different series called Thriller. However, since the fight only lasts eight pages, they have to fill out the rest of the book with various ideas. Including a nice cheescake pin-up of Starfire. Good thing they put that near the end, I think a lot of the male readers would have stopped reading at that point. Oh, and it also shows that the Darkseid that kept showing up was just an inflatable dummy. This would come back to haunt Ambush Bug.

Next up for our bonkers buddy was the Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer. This had him first doing battle with the (harmless) aliens known as Hukkas, which were from the (thankfully) short-lived Atari Force series. This is followed by a story featuring the return of Cheeks the Toy Wonder as a zombie doll out to eat...other dolls. In order to save his buddy, Ambush Bug even tries the unthinkable....going back to earlier pages in the comic. However, he runs afoul of Jonni DC, Countinuity Cop, and he is forced to try again and do the comic as a more traditional Christmas-themed comic. All turns out well, and we end with The Joker receiving an invitation to a reunion there, who feels that will be the perfect opportunity to get revenge upon Ambush Bug. Apparently, A.B. had kept trying to arrest the Joker even though they both were already incarcerated there. Good lord, is there no end to his power to annoy!

Ambush Bug did a couple of cameos, but nothing big until his next mini-series, Son of Ambush Bug! In the first issue, we learn that A.B.'s "super-villains" licience, which allows him to obtain super-villains for his comic books, has be revoked due to his use of the inflatable Darkseid in his first mini-series. So, he first tries to fill the gap with sock puppets, then shows what he imagines the japanese version of his comics are like. After atempting to drown his sorrows, he returns home to find a rather buxom redhead in his apartment. It turns out to be Jonni DC, who was transformed by "a cosmic buttinski" called The Interferer, who goes around changing things to more conventional comic book styles. As the Ambush Bug is one of the few people who knows he is actually in a comic book, Jonni reasons he might be able to better deal with the Interferer. It works, as the Interferer tries to make him into a bad copy of Green Lantern called Amber Butane (check the initials), he is able to slip out of the revised story and make his way back home. Unfortunately, the Interferer has gotten a hold of Cheeks and sent him into a classic "war" comic.

In the next issue, the Interferer continually places Ambush Bug into situations where he is blown up until AB finds himself in comic book Hell. Fortunately, after suffering a couple of comical tortures, he finds an exit door and returns to the realm of the living. Meanwhile, a government agency has found scraps of the Ambush Bug's costume which hold the key to teleportation. Between bouts of nonsense, Ambush Bug is trying to get back home, Cheeks is still in the combat comics, and the government is testing the duplicate Ambush Bug costumer they have made. On that front, it appears that each time they try and teleport someone back to their base in it, the wearer vanishes. They eventually learn that the scrap that they thought was from the original Ambush Bug uniform is a fake, and that it and the duplicate they made from it is actually eating the wearers! The next few issues have A.B. being zapped from one improbably situation to another by the Interferer. Then the Ambush Bug is arrest, put on trial for contempt of comics, found guilty, sentenced to ink-carseration, sent into Limbo, then exiled from the DC universe entirely, and finally, apparently, ends up dying in a train wreck.

After that, it was mostly more cameos, though he did have an appearance in Secret Origins, which of course does not actually give his origin, but does give some idea as to how he returned to the land of the living. This was followed by Ambush Bug Nothing Special, and then more cameos, then finally Ambush Bug: Year None. I'm not really going to do into those, as they are very much like the first few miniseries, though these are more focused on recent plotlines in the DC Universe. I do want to note that at one point, it appears that Ambush Bug is married to Dumb Bunny of the Inferior Five. I can see that would be a mixed blessing. She is as smart as her name suggests, but she also is, well, a blonde bombshell!

That's all for this look at the insane, incorragable, and unstoppable Ambush Bug. Remember, we are always looking for new topics and questions for future columns. Just send them to PatchO'Black. Till next time, I'll be seeing you in the funny pages!

Not exactly puns but...

Gilead's Frightful Puns

Q: What do you call a devil that only lives 24 hours?
A1: A Daymon. (Thanks to Toledo)
A2: Lord of Mayflies.

Q: What do you call a musteline devil?
A: Weaselzebub. (And of course, the lyrics to Mustelidae Rhapsody... "o/~ Weaselzebub has a Ferret put aside for me. For meee. For MEEEE! o/~")

Q: What's the world's sweetest undead weasel?
A: Moose-ferret-u.

Q: What do you call an undead cheetah?
A: A Zoombie.

Q: What do you call an undead scaly anteater whose head and organs fly around sucking blood?
A: A Penanggolin.

Q: What kind of undead is made of random bits and pieces of various animals?
A: A Frankfurter Monster.

Q: Who investigates corruption among the undead?
A: The In-Specter General.

Q: What kind of ghosts thinks they're better than the darker spirits?
A: Wight Supremacists.

Q: What do you call a genetically engineered ghost who haunts Captain Kirk?
A: The Wraith of Kahn.

Q: Why did the young sorcerer keep his spellbook in his lap in class?
A: He was witching a tent.

Q: What do you call one human surrounded by three werewolves?
A: Victim.

Q: What do you call one human surrounded by five werewolves?
A: Victim.

Q: What do you call one human surrounded by thirty werewolves?
A: Victim.

Q: What do you call one human surrounded by two-hundred werewolves?
A: Appetizer before the victims.

Q: Why did the lycanthrope have the hiccups?
A: From werewolfing down his food. (From werewolfing down his victims. ;-)

Q: Why did the teenaged ghost try to resurrect himself?
A: His ghoulfriend left him.

Q: What do you call a movie about a puzzle box that summons skunk demons of pain and pleasure?
A: Tailraiser.

Top Ten Reasons Darth Vader Always Wears Black

10. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the fashion wisdom was that black is the new black.

9. Palpatine told him he looked really hot in black leather and chrome.

8. He was a HUGE Johnny Cash fan. It's like "One Piece at a Time" and "Ring of Fire" were written just about him!

7. He thought he'd have a better chance at being picked for the Jedis' Forceketball team if he was tall and black.

6. It's traditional in a Western for the bad guy to wear a black hat. Oh, wait, Star Wars wasn't a Western...

5. It was good for hiding the midichlorian stains.

4. Solidarity with his Brothers in the TIE Fighter corps.

3. Palpatine thought he'd stand out better from the crowds of Storm Troopers in the Empire's new line of childrens' books, "Vhere's Vader?"

2. Come back you cowards! These lava burns are only a flesh wound!

1. As we found out in Eps. 2 and 3...he's really just a whiny emo kid!

Hi all, Ba'ar here with your latest @Action news survey. What's your favorite Halloween themed tune?

• Tarka says, "Rain of Blood Ba'ar... thats my answer... by slayer... its kind of like halloween."
• Shine awwooooooos, "The howwwls I make on halloween eve."
• Dingo yips, "'Thriller'!"
• Borris Gruffs, "Werewolves of London!"
• Gilead chirps, "Move Your Dead Bones."
• Garrison says, "Monster Mash"
• Argon says, "Oh The Monster Mash, of course!"
• Dewi quacks, "Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad."
• Kefan says, "Oh, jeez, Ba'ar. Half the stuff from 'Nightmare Before Christmas'. o/` Kidnap the Sandy Claus, throw him in a sack... o/`"
• Mavra says, "The song I would choose is 'Bad Moon A-Risin', Ba'ar."
• Dingo "My favorite Halloween song is "Thriller" by Michael Jackson if that counts."
• BunnyHugger says, "'Wicked Annabella,' by the Kinks."
• Ba'ar says, "One of mine is 'Ancient Tomes' by "Midnight Syndicate'"
• PatchO'Black mews, "And Ba'ar, my answer for the survey is "Grim Grinning Ghosts"."
• Borris Gruffs, "Werewolves of London."
• Jaxen smiles, tail swishing, "The Monster Mash."

Got something that You'd like to contribute to @Action News, but aren't sure if you should, or how to do it? Here are some basic guidelines.

Contributing a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org!

• @Action News is published when enough news and articles are gathered, so the date of publication may vary.
• Most any type of story or article of interest to SpinDizzy's newspaper readers will be accepted. Generally, we'd prefer things that aren't out and out lies or flames about other folks, and have a basis in the reality of SpinDizzy.
• Things that occur in public areas are fair game.
• The things reported don't have to have actually happened, (any more than anything that happens here does,) but make sure you don't overstep the social boundaries and rules of interaction that we have.

These are pretty broad guidelines, but we expect good sense to apply.

Thanks!

Argon
Editor - @Action News