... we've decided to pull the plug on ourselves rather than watch another month go by without new posts.

It was fun getting to know our readers online and in person. It was fun making t-shirts and having several of our t-shirts stolen. It was fun crafting inappropriate photo illustrations. But now it's time to stop having fun. Let us pay tribute to what was:

Kelly: "Poor GritCity. I'll be sad to see it go. All I can say is, I'll carry you all in the fannypack of my heart."

Laura: "Blogging about Tacoma almost made me want to move to Tacoma."

Cole: "I’ll miss all the virtual friends and virtual money we made."

Niki: "I don’t even work here anymore."

In other words, thanks and happy Thanksgiving (almost). Feel free to share your remembrances or just delete us from your RSS feeds.

Oh, also, you should follow thenewstribune.com on Twitter. I happen to know the user name and password and occasionally sneak some fake stories humor in when the bosses aren't looking.

Quick, you have approximately 45 minutes to abandon work or whatever it is you people do and get to TCC:

This fall the Artist & Lecture Series at Tacoma Community College presents comedian and writer Larry Wilmore. Wilmore will speak on campus Oct. 15 at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.

If you go, report back! I'll be stuck in the office on a conference call. My life is just that glamorous.

Sorry for the late notice! And sorry for the lack of posts (again).

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Not that this has much to do with Tacoma and its surroundings, but it's dominating the news cycle today and dominating much of my concentration. One of my besties lives in Houston and is drinking heavily and hunkering down in hopes that the hurricane won't pick him up and drop him in Oz. Here's his most important live update from The Storm Zone:

So we're dealing with Hurricane Ike. When I noticed it would be hitting the Texas coast I immediately sought to find out if there is a Tina, Texas. Alas, there is not.

However, tickets to TINA TURNER'S CONCERT go on sale Monday. Yes, Monday.

And that's why he's one of my besties.

Do y'all have people you're worried about in that area of the country? If WE were facing a 900-mile wide storm, how would you be passing the time? Or would you high-tail it out of town? I'm fairly certain I would be hiding under my bed with a bottle of Grey Goose.

Also, check out this amazing satellite image of Hurricane Ike from space. Can we please have our A1 story on this hurricane tomorrow be Hurricane YIkes?!

A while back I wrote about the Dead Gentlemen, Tacoma filmmakers whose comedy "The Gamers" has won several major geek awards since its release in 2002. The team will attend the Penny Arcade Expo for a screening of the sequel, "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising," this Friday night in Seattle. And they'll sign autographs and chat up the crowd at 2 p.m. Sunday at Comic Book Ink in Tacoma.

Also, be sure to read EJ's Sunday Soundlife story in which we catch up with the Gentlemen.

On a side note, one of my most regrettable Epic Fails was, eh, failing to accept a most gracious invitation from the Gentlemen to join a new weekly D&D game. I was simply too busy, what with working full time and cracking the proverbial whip in the direction of my teenager. I'm not sure if the game ever got up and running, but I'm sorry I had to miss out.

Tacoma's rollerderby chicks are moving into the National Guard Armory at 715 S. 11th St. As far as I can tell, it's not a coup in the making. It's just the acquisition of a new practice space, so they say. We'll see.

In the meantime, you can catch their next match/bout/pummel-skating thing this weekend. Doors open at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Tacoma Soccer Center, 2610 Bay St. E. Tickets are $10 in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com or $12 at the door. For more info, go to www.dockyardderbydames.org. Season ends in October.

I covered the South Tacoma Business District Association's 12th Annual Classic Car Show Saturday, but I didn't get these pictures in time for the print edition.

I walked into this annual street fair right about the time the judges were starting to hand out awards. It was cool to see a Tacoma couple, Rick and Penny Olson, win two trophies, both the Ladies' Choice award and the Show Favorite award. Take a look at these shots, taken by judge Taanya Tucker, to see why they won.

There were about 300 cars at the show, all of them worthy of trophies. But this '37 Ford custom convertible caught the judges' attention – and mine:

He's done it in practice.

Tacoma's Mark Kirsch, owner of World Strongman Entertainment, is going to try to pull a Boeing 767 at least 100 feet this Saturday at Boeing Field. The event is a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound, and it coincides with the 80th anniversary celebration for King County International Airport.

Originally, Kirsch just wanted to pull a measly little 737, but he had to go up a few numbers to the 767 because that was the only plane available to him.

"I couldn't believe it," Kirsch said of his first close-up with the object he expects to tow (on foot, by the way, in case that wasn't clear earlier). "When I first saw it, I said 'no way.'"

But in practice last week, on July 15, he towed the enormous 202,000-pound plane the target distance. Saturday, he'll be working against a slight slope, but he said he thinks he can do it.

"The secret is making everything fire at one moment to apply all the thrust at once," Kirsch said. "Then you just have to keep it moving."

Kirsch, a Wilson grad, class of 1998, said it takes about six years to train and condition one's body for this type of stunt. To simulate pulling an enormous object, he straps on a harness that is roped to a rack bolted to the ground. Then he tries to pull the rack out of the ground. It's an impossible task, but it works the right muscles, he said.

Saturday's celebration starts at 10 a.m., and the plane pull should take place around 11 a.m. In the meantime, here are a few photos from last week's practice session:

Here's the rest of the Ralph Porter audio:

Ralph Porter audio, part 2

Ralph Porter, longtime host of the Ha-Ha Tuesdays comedy night over at Jazzbones, is moving up in the world.

Ralph recently sent me an e-mail letting me know he was headed to Los Angeles for some high-profile tapings, appearances on BET's "Comic View" and HBO's "Def Comedy Jam."

I talked to Ralph on the phone Monday. I'll let him explain:

Ralph Porter audio, part 1

Ralph is back from his "Comic View" taping and awaiting his September "Def Comedy Jam" taping. In the meantime, he'll host Ha Ha Tuesdays as well as his Friday night gig in Seattle. (Listen to the audio!) Also, the "Jeremy" we talk about is Jeremy Wood, another comic I'm planning to write about. Ralph is hosting a benefit for Jeremy this Wednesday night at Jazzbones. See you there.

Ralph Porter, host of Ha Ha Tuesdays at Jazzbones, keeps the crowd laughing during breaks between acts. (Drew Perine/The News Tribune)

Hi.

I'm Bill.

But enough about me.

I just got word from John Munn, owner of Comic Book Ink over on Tacoma's East Side, that his store has received its fourth Eisner nomination. For you non-comic-book geeks, the Eisners are the comic-book world's Oscar equivalent. It's a big deal.

John is headed to the San Diego Comic-Con – that's the big one, the show Hollywood descends upon every year for "new" movie ideas. In a ceremony this Friday, John will find out if his store wins the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing award. His is one of about two dozen stores nominated for the award, from more than 4,000 comic book stores around the world.

"It's just mind numbing to be nominated a fourth time," John said on the phone today.

But there's another bit of news in all of this. John says he's planning to open a second Comic Book Ink store. He won't divulge the location, but Comic Book Ink – Volume 2 should open in October 2009 but no later than May of 2010. John, an October baby, said he'd like to follow in George Lucas' tradition of opening in his birthday month. Comic Book Ink opened Oct. 22, 2002. But May holds Free Comic Book day, so that might work for a grand opening, too, he said.

"It'll be a smaller store, a satellite store," John said. "I've always dreamed of having two stores, and possibly a third down the road, so this is the next phase of all that."

An alert reader spotted this nugget in the July 2 edition of Cascadia Weekly ("serving Whatcom, Skagit and Island Counties and lower B.C.").

Border Disorders
On June 22, a cab driver from Tacoma celebrated his fare after he dropped the customer off at Peace Portal near the international boundary by urinating over a fence in plain view. Blaine officers raced to the scene, but "the excreting cretin exited the community before police arrived … it's hoped the cabbie was returning (to Tacoma) post haste"

In fairness, that is a long car ride.

Hey remember when I posted that sexy photo of Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto in her competition swimsuit? Turns out I could have posted a few more provocative pics had I only known...

The Miss Washington Scholarship Organization has called a news conference for 3 p.m. in Tacoma to respond to photos posted on the Internet.

They show Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto in some embarrassing poses. She was to make a statement at Wednesday’s news conference.

We don't have the pictures on our site and we're not currently linking to them for some reason, but *cough cough* TMZ.COM *cough cough*. Voila, the photos. I don't know about y'all, but this is a typical weekend for me.

My favorite? Playing beer pong while wearing her crown. My kinda girl!