Always Coming, Never Here

B.P.R.D. - Still good.

Hellboy - Also still good.

Astro City - Actually got an issue of this, finally! I'm really hoping they just wrap up this arc... it would be nice if there were some kind of reboot of Astro City at this point, but that may be so pomo that it eats its own head.

Planetary - LAST ISSUE IN OCTOBER FINALLY I CAN'T BELIEVE IT HAS BEEN TEN YEARS FOR 27 ISSUES

Batman and Robin - New take on old characters by Grant Morrison. Grant and Frank Quitely did amazing work with All-Star Superman, and this new Batman stuff (with Dick Grayson as bats and Batman's son as Robin) is really really awesome. The feel is exactly what Batman should feel like, but it's a new story with new character development; I love it.

Top 10 Season Two - Haven't seen this lately, must be running late again... maybe it's time to put Top Ten to bed.

Red Mass For Mars - Watchmen-like uberfuture where humanity is doomed. I think this book is about done, it never really grabbed me so now I'm just getting it to be complete with it.

Walking Dead - Still reading this zombie soap opera, it keeps pulling me back in.

Anna Mercury - Alternate worlds and a boob-laden secret agentess. New story arc, looks promising.

Viking - This is a very moody, art-centric, historical fiction piece about Vikings. I like it, but we'll see how long it lasts.

Buck Rogers - Indy take on the classic character. Could be good; we'll see what happens.

Doktor Sleepless - Bio/Hacker superhero wants to end the world. Still wearing thin.

Gravel - Warren Ellis, John Constantine with a badass military twist. This series not only excels for Warren, it's setting up its next whole story arc with this great weirdo all magician super-team. A very very cool idea, Magic X-Men. I hope it takes off - I also think it would be great if Avatar did an omnibus collection of all the Gravel stories they've ever put out (as the character starred in a number of mini-series before getting his own regular series).

Ignition City - Where pulp space heroes go to die. Still good, thanks be to Warren.

Irredeemable - Superman-level hero runs amok. This is some good stuff - deconstructing the idea of an alien super-being living in human society, much further than anyone's ever dared to go with the idea before.

No Hero - Take a drug, become a superhero via a horrific biological transformation; just read the penultimate issue, and it should all resolve nicely in the last book. I'm reminded of Black Summer, which I did like, but it also felt a little shallow like No Hero does. Both story ideas could have been expanded more, but Warren is the million armed writer of the Apocalypse, he doesn't really have enough time to write every damn thing in the universe.

Incognito - Supervillain in witness protection regains powers and becomes a "hero". From Ed Brubaker, still loving this book, hope it goes for a while or continues exploring the continuity in other series.

[Poll #1376153]

If you've never read the book, don't. Go see the movie, enjoy it (note that it's a drama, not an action film), absorb it, then go back to the book and get the rest of the story. It's a really well done movie... practically an art film really.

Don't bother going to see it in IMAX. It's NOT an action film.

In the tradition of "What Comics Mike Is Reading", I present - "What Shows Mike Is Watching". I won't use the word TV since I don't really rely on that medium for my media watching. Anyways, here's the list, alphabetically, with 5-star ratings:

24 *** (3)
Battlestar Galactica (almost over) *** (3)
Burn Notice *** (3)
Damages ***** (5)
Fringe **** (4)
House **** (4)
Lie To Me **** (4)
Lost **** (4)
Medium *** (3)
Sanctuary ** (2, may drop)
Testees *** (3)


BONUS: Will Start Watching:

Dollhouse
Kings (maybe)
The Unusuals


So far, 24, BSG, Burn Notice, Medium, and Testees are all the usual fare - good, relatively consistent, usually stimulating. Lost has recaptured my interest, House continues to be great, and Lie To Me is very intriguing; I love the concept, and I hope the show goes far, but it's pretty much another House-style-curmudgeon-Sherlock-Holmes-hero procedural. Which brings me to Damages: the coolest show I didn't watch at all last year but caught up with on Hulu just in time. Stellar talent on this show, and excellent writing, with a story told in a flashback/flashforward style that heightens the drama and keeps you guessing at what's really going on right up until the end. Highly, highly recommend it.

Heroes is garbage. Utter tripe. It had such a promising beginning to, but it clearly was a casualty of the writer's strike. Can't even talk about it any more, makes me so sad.

I purchased this stainless steel 2 quart bottle with the intention of enjoying seltzer and creating my own all natural, organic soft drinks.

The lovely, thick stainless steel bottle SPRANG A LEAK on my very first attempt at using a CO2 cartridge with it. I am somewhat horrified by this. The company, LISS, is based in Hungary, and they offer a 1 year warranty on the product... but now I'm a bit fearful that this thing, even with replacement, won't last me a year, if their manufacturing is bad enough that the damn bottle has no integrity. Maybe I should get a refund instead?

sigh.

"Oh look, a black squirrel."

"I've never seen one of those before! Holy crap!"

"Me neither. Oh look, it's going into the hair salon."

"Wow, he's just walking around in there."

[insert the screaming of a bunch of women, followed by chasing with a broom, and a squirrel plastered up against a glass window trying desperately to get outside]

Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn is a lot of fun, and not just because of squirrel terrorism. There's a bunch of adorable little cafes, bars, and restaurants of all stripes - including The Chocolate Room which I believe may be the best retail chocolate store in the city (I'm not counting boutique chocolatiers who sell their own chocolates). It's the first place I've found that actually sells Domori chocolate bars (sophisticated Italian chocolate from Venezuelan cacao) and also has the full line of Vintage Plantation chocolate bars from Ecuador and I believe elsewhere (not even Murray's or other gourmet stores I've shopped at carry all of these). Additional, TCR is staffed by an amazing pastry chef; kitteridge and I devoured a dark and dense chocolate cupcake that was impossibly moist and slathered with a pudding consistency ganache, and were entranced by the selection of other cookies and confections available.

Most of the cafes and restaurants there seem to be burgeoning businesses, and have extremely thrifty prices for the quality of food served. Luscious was a small take-out joint which looked as though it was just starting out; a comfort food establishment, where you can purchase meatloaf, stuffed chicken breasts, and a variety of sides like mac n cheese, corn spoonbread, tabouli, broccoli and such. I had a tasty cuban mojo with ham and pork on a ciabatta, and loved it dearly.

There's a street fair happening there on Sunday, May 20th, and I plan on attending...

Fried peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich... with BACON.

Elvis wept!!! Washed down with a Welch's grape ice cream soda.

Many thanks to Sylvia for taking me to Peanut Butter & Co. last night! :D

Klaus Kinski's Death of a Salesman (except he's selling slaves).

heads soar through the air
blood spatters everywhere
that dude's leg came off!!

I've enjoyed Starfox Command quite a lot, and really like playing it with my thumb on the touch screen. I highly recommend it, though I have not yet tried to play multiplayer on Wi-fi.

I just picked up Mario vs. Donkey Kong 1 *and* 2, and they are pretty awesome. MvDK is actually a GBA game, which I was able to pick up at Worcester Gamestop pretty easily. Both are really fun puzzle games (like Lemmings basically), but MvDK2 is actually even better with the stylus and touchscreen. It's also got a level designer, and you can share and play levels online, so that's something I'm looking forward to trying.

I also picked up Tenchu: Dark Secret, but have not yet turned it on since I'm liking MvDK so much.

Nintendo r00l, PS/Xbox dr00l