And I quote...

Going to Target in the morning for a few minor things.  Some naproxin sodium (that generic Aleve shit), some toothpaste, some bits and bobs.  I'm not expecting to spend more then $20 bucks but who am I kidding, right?  Oh look, a coffee grinder, can't do without that!  *Insert sound of checking account weeping*

 

And brother did I make my checking account weep.  Spent $84 bucks this morning.  $84 fucking dollars?!?!?!?!?!  Someone stop me before I debit again!

So yeah, I got the naproxin.  Got the toothpaste.  Got some bits and bobs.  Got a book for mom.  Got a couple...of...DVDs...um...*Sob*

The book I got for mom was some James Patterson book.  I also got her some new salt and pepper shakers that she has been wanting.  She also grabbed these little tiny decorative pots to plant some little herbs in and a card.  She also grabbed a card.

Oh God, they had a bunch of Cadbury Creme Eggs on sale for like $0.19 cents for a pack of four.  So like an idiot I got two packs of creme, two packs of caramel creme and two packs of orange creme.  Six packs of friggin Cadbury's for like a buck!

The DVDs I grabbed...oh God, I suck...but they were super cheap.  The first one I grabbed was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Ya know what, I never saw the movie in the theater.  It was $10 bucks.  I was weak.  And in my weakened state, I turned around and saw the movie I figure I should watch cause, ya know, I'm trying to be the whitest man I can be.  It was $7 bucks.  Sideways.  Yep.  Looks like I'm watching it in the morning when I get home.

Also got me a pair of new pajama bottoms to putter around in.  My other two pairs are sadly tortured by age.  They have these giant tears running from the crotch to the knee.  It's horrible.  So, seeing as how this pair was on sale for like seven bucks, I got 'em.  Now when I putter I look like a half civilized, half sane human being.  Hooray!

Then, cause mom needed Dr. Peppers, I grabbed a couple of 24 packs from Walmart.  It's either pay $4 bucks a 12 pack at HEB or $6 bucks a 24 pack at Walmart.  So I got two 24 packs.  Now I won't have to bother for a month.

And, I think I'm forgetting a thing or two, but that about covers it.  Jesus, $84 fucking dollars.  I hang my head in shame.

It's like I can't go to Target anymore and only get the things I need.  I end up getting a bunch of shit that just don't need getting now (maybe later but certainly can be put off).  It's a sickness I tells ya.  Sure, the naproxin and the toothpaste and toiletpaper were necessary.  The salt and pepper shakers were something that could be put off but mom has been putting them off forever so I got 'em now.  The pajama bottoms, well, I could have certainly have put those off.  The DVDs and book were totally unnecessary.  Right there was, like, $24 bucks easily.  Nevermind the Cadbury's...

*Sigh*

Well, whatever.  By August I'm not gonna have room to spend on stupid crap so I might as well enjoy myself I suppose.

Oh, tried that Cafe Du Monde stuff tonight.  Man, that's some really good coffee!  I guess it's the chickory perhaps?  I don't know, but it was the best cup I've had since I started drinking coffee on a regular basis.  Mmmmmm, damn good stuff!

Wine!

Il Bastardo sangiovese and a Yellow Tail chardonnay.

Also needed coffee and was unsure what to get so I ended up getting some of this Cafe Du Monde stuff.  Looks good.  Even has a recipe for a cafe au lait.  Huh.  Even got a couple of those small packs of that HEB coffee...whatever it's called...in case I need to take a little something with me to work.  Grab one of those, my little french press, and I'm good.

Goddamn, spent way too much at the store.  It's the wine.  I always try to seperate out the bullshit from the necessities but with wine it always gets mixed in with the necessities so my costs in that area seem inflated.

Going to Target in the morning for a few minor things.  Some naproxin sodium (that generic Aleve shit), some toothpaste, some bits and bobs.  I'm not expecting to spend more then $20 bucks but who am I kidding, right?  Oh look, a coffee grinder, can't do without that!  *Insert sound of checking account weeping*

Did get my copy of The Big O II in the mail today.  Awesome.  What a fantastic series.  Now to sit down and watch them.

Speaking of anime, I finally...FINALLY...got around to watching my copy of Blue Sub 6.

Honestly?

What a total waste of money.

It starts off well enough.  I mean it's a four episoide OVA series so I'm not expecting a whole helluva lot out of it character wise (though Macross Plus was also four episodes and still kicks supreme ass).  Hell, I just want some cool sci-fi action, right?  And it starts out decently enough.  The characters are fairly cliche.  Ya got the hot female pilot looking to recruit a disenfranchised but ridiculously talented ex-pilot for a war on this scientist guy and his army of mutant...fish.  And she initially faisl in her task but after an attack on the port Blue Six is at, the dude gets an board and there we go.

Animation was top notch.  It's ten years old and the CGI doesn't blend well with the 2-D animation but it never usually does.  Still, it's well done all things considered.  The animation is pretty smooth and the action is pretty cool.

The rest SUCKS!  Seriously, the male lead is a complete waste of time.  He's introduced as the bad ass of all bad asses and he spends all his time fucking moping.  Then around episode three we understand the reason for his emoness is because he's always had better people save his ass and die.  Wait, what?  But this guy is supposed to be a hotshot?  Fuck that!  Instead we get some emo faggot who becomes infatuated with the evil scientist bad guy and some bare tittied mutant mermaid.  The fuck?  And it just gets stupider.  After confronting evil mad scientist guy and being given some condescending bullshit holier than thou nonsense ("yeah, I flooded the world and killed billions, but how is it my fault really?"  No shit, that was his argument.) our heroes just walk off while the bad guy dies off screen.  Satisfied yet?  Wait, there's more!  Then emo faggot gets his ass handed to him by some andogynous mutant shark who only gives up out of frustration and swims off with the bare tittied mutant mermaid.  THEN he justy sits there like some douchebag faggot bleeding profusely and smoking a cigarette while the hot female pilot just sorta staring at him...I don't know...impressed?  It's supposed to be a love connection?  Honestly, these characters are so morally vacuous that I can't tell.  She wants him to *feel* her love vibes!  Words are not enough!  Her sucking gasps of wide eyed awe should speak volumes to her love vibes!  FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This show was a moral abomination.  Horrible.  Fucking horrible.

There were some interesting characters.  The captain of Blue Six.  Cool guy, needed more of him.  The little psychic girl?  What was up with her?  More plz.  Emo faggot was an emo faggot and thus fails the test of life.  Really, the moment they introduced him I was hoping he would make himself an hero (as they say) and end it there.  Terrible character.  Terrible characters.  Evil villain mad scientist guy was okay, but the fact no one called him on his shit just sort of makes him the good guy by default.  The fact that he didn't destroy the world in the end was a disappointment cause, farnkly, that world sucked bad and needed to die by nuclear fire.  Man, that would've ruled so hard.  Bu the director was a pussy so instead we have the sopping wet vaginal orifice style ending that just makes me sad that I spent money on this series.  Thank God for The Big O.  That series is made of win and 90s era Batman animated series.  God bless.

Shoot me now

Ordered some shit on Amazon.

Was originally thinking, ya know, a couple of Grendel collections and a softcover edition of the complete Mage: The Hero Defined series.

And then I saw it.  I saw it and the heavens parted.

Yeah, the hardcover version of The Hero Defined.

Oh...Hell yes!

Now, I just got the one item, and technically I spent a touch less, but...it's the friggin hardcover!  Damn, a series like this you don't go for some flimsy softcover, nosiree!

Slight concern...this shares the same ISBN as another altogether different Image series.  I hope that this is indeed Mage and not some dumb Jim Mahfood series.  Intersting to note that when I ordered it listed one copy left whereas now the availability is listed as three to five weeks.  Damn, Amazon works fast!

Them there reviews

In short...

Countdown - FUCK!  Why?  Can someone tell me why?  The past two weeks have been for what?  To set up a new fucking Kamandi series?  Worthless!  All this advertising about some DCU Great Disaster thing and it turns out to be for a character noone could give two shits about?  Yeah, thanks DC.  The narrative also sucked.  Just this Buddy Blank asshole's diary essentially.  And to make matters worse the descriptions never matched up to Jim Starlin's art.  Never.  At any point.  It was, needless to say, absurd.

Flash - It keeps...getting...worse.  This title, sad to say, has gone nowhere since they brought back Wally West.  One of the best characters of the DCU and they've gone and virtually ruined him.  This is just sad.

Blue Beetle - Okay, now we're getting into quality.  The ending of the story caps off the past couple of years with the climax of this whole business with the Reach.  It also features appearances by Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, Fire and Ice who show up to help deal with the situation on the ground while Blue Beetle goes tearing ass around the Reach ship in orbit.  He's reunited with his scarab, which was a foregone conclusion.  Also, his scarab is actually given a real voice and not some made up hyroglyphs thrown on the page for that alien feel.  It was a pretty good issue.  Things felt a bit rushed though.  I think they could have given the story one more issue to breathe a bit more before they wrapped it up.  Jaime's house, which was destroyed a couple of issues prior, was rebuilt in a quick and dirty epilogue and things are returned to normal.  Course, I was mostly annoyed by the small blurb detaling the next issue that said it was going to be an all Spanish issue.  Um, what?  Fuck that!  Yeah, pay three bucks for a comic I can't read.  Thanks DC!

Captain America - Kick ass fight between Captain Bucky and Crossbones.  The thing that's starting to bother me is that it seems Bucky loves him some roundhouse kicks.  Every fight, it's roundhouse kicks.  Very awkward looking roundhouse kicks to boot.  Okay, maybe a punch?  Think a punch would be easier to throw.  Story is good, but the awkward character motions are distracting.  There was also a nice little romantic moment between Bucky and Natasha Romanov.  Can't wait to see how this plays out.  Honestly was never a big fan of Sharon Carter and never saw what Steve Rogers saw in her.  Oh, and Steve's body might, in fact, be held in some kinda stasis by the Red Skull.  Sweet!  The mystery deepens!

Green Lantern - The origins of Hal Jordan.  This is all flash back story going back to whaen Hal was a kid and saw his father die in a test flight crash.  His mother after that becomes obsessed with keeping her kids safe.  Hal's younger brother, a mama's boy, adores Hal while his older brother is resentful of Hal's free spirited ways.  Eventually, Hal runs away when he turns 18 to join the Air Force and become a test pilot like his dad.  Moving forward  alittle later we find Hal testing F16s (and crashing them) and finding out his (now estranged) mother has pancreatic cancer.  Unfortunately, she doesn't want to see him while he's in the service and dies before he gets drummed out for punching a superior officer.  It was a really nice issue.  A mid-paced issue that delves into what makes Hal Jordan the asshole that he is.  Also a brief Cameo by John Stewart during a bar fight scene between flyboys and jarheads.  Excellent art by Ivan Reis.  Top notch, best title I picked up this week.

X-Men: Legacy - So, Professor X is finally woken up and by Magneto of all people.  Xavier's memory is still swiss cheesed at this point and you'd be hard pressed to find any evidence of him getting shot in the head (seriously, what the fuck) but it's a mostly character driven story that Mike Carey is really good at.  Mags does give Cargill a lobotomy (thank God, I hated that character) and Exodus climbs to greater levels of douche-baginess but seeing Magneto and Xavier lament at how irrelevent they've made themselves adds to the two characters' dynamic.  I think they should have gay sex and get it over with.  Sure, why not?  The idea that their long war with each other is nothing but pent up homoerotic feelings would be great!  And isn't that where comics are going these days?  Everyone is a gay rape victim!  But seriously, good issue.  Carey's run has been pretty uninteresting up until Messiah Complex and now these more character oriented stories are finally proving why Marvel bothers signing his paycheck.

So the overall score  is 4/2.  Four decent to excellent reads and two crap reads.  Not bad.  The crap was awful.  Two titles that were highly anticipated and major letdowns.  DC's push for bigger events is showing signs of exhaustion.  Time for them to let up and let their characters breathe more on their own.

New Comics Wednesday

Blue Beetle #25
Captain America #36
Countdown to Final Crisis #5
Flash #238
Green Lantern #29
X-Men: Legacy #209

Still no new Angel. Dammit! It's the final chapter!

Cool shit though. Blue Beetle has been kicking my ass the last couple of issues. Captain America is the bomb. Green Lantern is beyond awesome. Haven't read a single one yet though. I got sleepy! So instead of reading I took a nap. I guess it didn't help that I had a very large glass of that shiraz with dinner and no coffee (it didn't help that Sadie half occupied my lap the entire time either). It was a nice nap though. Kept on having dreams that I was awake and getting ready for work. Should have known they were dreams cause the furniture was rearranged.

Speaking of the shiraz, I opened it this morning. It's probably the least interesting red I've had so far. I mean I can drink it, but it's too immediate with the flavor. I don't know, maybe I gotta give it a little time but it's not quite what I was expecting. Or maybe Yellow Tail is low quality. *Shrug*

I'll start with the comic books in the morning. I'm fairly well caffeinated now since I brought my french press to work. Fucking coffee stains on my shirt...goddamn! Guess I'm gonna have to wash all over again.

Jury Duty

Man, what a waste of time.  Showed up, waited for 25 minutes until the judge showed up and they dicked around for a few more minutes after that before picking six people and releasing the rest of us.

So there were supposed to be three cases.

One was a seatbelt violation.

One was...well I don't know cause the guy didn't show up so the prosecuter asked for a reset date.

The last was some kind of simple assault case but the complainant didn't show up so the case was ultimately dismissed.


So anyway, we all sat around to basically get chosen for this one stupid case involving this one stupid old white woman who half looked like she spent her better years in some white nationalist survivalist group in Wisconsin.  The sides of her head were shaved smooth all around except for having very short hair on top.  She looked like a demented turnip.  She also had these crazy little tattoos around her wrists, of what I wasn't sure as they were small and I was a bit far away.  The prosecutor went down his small list of standard questions he needed to ask to individual prospective jurors, do you live in Harlingen, what do you do for a living, can you be fair and objective...and that was it.  He asked like ten people this.  I was number 14.  WOO!  The woman, representing herself, asked us two things.  First question was do any of us have a problem with the fact that she wasn't Mexican?  I rolled my eyes at this.  It's a seatbelt violation, ya dumb bitch!  Also, did any of us have better things to do.  Uh, gee, well, yeah.  Anyway, then she picked six off the list they gave her and they announced the jury.  And my name wasn't called and I got the fuck outta there.  WOO!  What a glorious waste of time.  I can't believe I wasted gas on that whole trip.  I'd rather have gotten on that jury just to stick that woman with a fine for wasting everyone's time.

Jury selected, names called, the rest of us were dismissed.  Got home at 10:00AM, had a smoke, had a glass of wine, read chapter one of The Dark Knight Returns, then straight to bed.

Hopefully no more jury duty for the next decade.

Jericho

Caught the last episode tonight.

Too bad the series was canceled, it had lots of potential.  Some readers on Instapundit were giving the show shit cause of its apparent leftwing bent, the idea that a Halliburton-like company would nuke a couple of dozen cities and try to make a new country for itself to run.  How was this a surprise?  From the get go I pretty much knew where it was going.  The premise of the show can be summed up as, "9/11 was an inside job."  Strangely this doesn't bother me if for the fact that it was also knocking of Lost.  Lost in Kansas.  That's how it all felt.  And honestly the first season mostly sucked.  When the characters became more aware of how things were outside of their town, then things got loads better.  I was hoping that the scale of the show would have bene worldwide, but that would have left the characters as nothing more then passive observers (which describes most of the first season) and would have sucked.  Making it an internal conspiracy meant that characters could actually do things and influence events.  It gave the show tension and drama.  In other words it made the damn show worth watching.  I'm glad CBS gave it a second chance.  It sucks that the show wasn't a success, but the network giving the show and it's creators the chance to prove themselves was a really cool thing on their part.  Also, it meant that they could give the story something slightly, vaguely resembling closure.

Speaking of which, the series did end relatively well all things considered.  So Ulrich and the black guy finally get the nuke down to Texas (The Independent Republic of Texas!) causing the Texans (I love the fact that we're so central to the plot...fuck you, haters!) to join up with the US government in Columbus, Ohio.  It was established that Texas would be the ultimate kingmaker when they picked a side and the "ending" centers on that fact.  So now it's a new civil war but with Texas fighting on the Union side.  Awesome.  (As for the left-winginess the producers still recognize the need for guns when the mayor of Jericho, while at the Consitutional Convention, laments the fact that they stripped out the second amendment because it makes it easier to stomp over a populace.)

The producers have stated interest in continuing the story in other mediums.  I hope they follow through cause I really want to see how things play out.  Even though it was only seven episodes, this season did a helluva job proving that a show could have a giant story without moving it forward at a snail's pace.

So long, Jericho, it was fun while it lasted.

Though I should start a petition demanding a show about how awesome Texas is.  It's Jericho's fault, they revved up my nationalism.

Did the lawn

Hooray!

Only took my an hour.  Been putting it off forever but now it looks like civilized people live at my house.  For the next couple of weeks.  Goddamn, but I didn't realize how dead it all was.  I mean in really bad shape.  The space between my house and the neighbor's, which has always had the most real grass (as opposed to weeds) is fucking dead.  If it's not gonna rain, I guess I should start watering.  Kicked up a lot of dust and dirt too.  My glasses were already needing cleaning but shortly after starting I could barely tell if I was going in straight lines or not.  Ah well, right now all that matters is it's done!  Done, done, done!

Now I just gotta do the back.

Anyway, got a couple of new bottles of wine again.  As usual, a red and a white.  Finally got a shiraz!  Yellow Tail shiraz, which is what my brother-in-law usually has.  Looks good.  The white I got was one I've already had before, a Fetzer chardonnay.  Whites are okay, but they just don't do it for me like the reds.  I do remember liking chardonnay though, so I'm going back to square one with the whites.

And did I mention my front yard is done?  Thank God!

So anyway, finally starting 1776 by McCullough.  I tried Friday night but it was an aborted attempt.  I couldn't concentrate and was pretty sleepy.  Picked up Grendel and New Avengers instead.  Tonight feels better though.

Listening to the new Disturbed single on KNAC right now.  It's...okay.  Melodic, needless to say.  It seems kind of unlike Disturbed at least until towards the end.  I've always liked Disturbed, thought they were a fairly competent post-numetal band.  Still, now they seem to be latching on to metalcore a bit.  Hmmm....Not that I own any of their albums, though I keep meaning to buy one (have heard the first album).  Everything I heard from their last release was tight.  This one...mmmmmm, I dunno.

Speaking of new singles I dig the new Testament.  Again, another band that sounds too "metal mainstream" but it's a kick ass song once it settles in.  More Than Meets The Eye is the title.  Transformers was last summer, guys.  Paul Bostaph does a good job on drums thankfully.  That's what makes their The Gathering Album kick so much ass was Dave Lombardo's destroying his kit and your ears.  Motherfucker of an album.

Speaking of music I haven't bought any new music since Chrsitmas.  I want to buy more Keneally, finally get some Andy McKee and the new Testament and Children of Bodom, but I just...fucking...can't!  Books and DVDs, man, that's where I'm at.  And even less DVDs and more books.  Words!

Alright, better get some reading done.  Haven't hit up LGF in a couple of days and I need to see how the world is going to hell.

Grendel, Warbound, New Avengers

So I read the last two books I got.

Grendel - Felt fillery again.  It mostly dealt with Hunter Rose meeting with some Haitian voodoo priest guy to pull together something to fight off the demon haunting him.  Also, tits.  It adanced things just enough but the series has hit a small slump the past two issues.  Only one Christina Spar diary entry to shed more light on the character of Hunter Rose.  I really like those entries.  Too many can be tedious but one doesn't make things interesting enough.  Still, the bit at the beginning with Grendel cutting up those zombies was cool shit.

Warbound - Surpisingly good read.  Some plot hole action going, but there was this one moment involving the giant rock monster, Korg, and what seemed to be...well, a slight whiff of...homoeroticism?  Seriously, he told Hiroim, a dude who can manipulate earth, he wanted to uh...have uh...little uh...rock babies with him.  But it's not gay, cause apparently it all involves holding hands in a pool of molten magma.  Not gay!

>>_>>
<<_<<

*Cough*


But it shows that Korg is the character with the most, uh...depth.

New Avengers - Finally picked up the second half of that hardcover.  S'alright.  Honestly, I am interested enough in picking up the second volume to see where everything else goes.  Bendis spent ten issues basically doing nothing but set up, so I wanna see what happens when the story atually kicks into gear.  If it does.  The story was about the Sentry and they finally introduce him into  proper Marvel continuity.  Honestly, I would have liked to see more action with the Wrecker.  Wrecking Crew?  Totally bad ass.  Seriously bad ass.  Any story that has them doing nothing but kicking ass is a good one.  Once that comes to a close and the story launches headlong into the Sentry plot, it slows down.  Too many characters get involved.  In an Avengers title, I don't wanan see an X-Men character take the lead.  But it was okay.  McNiven's art was also passable.  Takes a slight dip in quality later on but if anyone is gonna do the "widescreen" style it might as well be him.

Okay, back to work.

Books so far

First the good.

The Incredible Hercules - Goddamn, why must this book get better with every issue?  There's this moment with Herc and his brother Ares fighting on top of an antiquated SHIELD helicarrier, missiles flying at them, and somehow Greg Pak gets this cool little moment in with Ares wondering why Herc, who was this drunken womanizing shit back in the day, gets all the glory while Ares, a god of war who can lead nations to empire and men to greatest glory, get pissed on.  It was just right on.  Herc's reply was good without being corny just before he throws Ares off the carrier into a couple of missiles.  Sweet!  Amadeus Cho, an impetuous little prick, gets schooled and coming out better for it.  This and Nova are like the two best titles Marvel's publishing right now.

Death of the New Gods - The big reveal on who the killer is was kinda lame.  The Infinity Man?  Who the fuck is that?  Should have let it be Himon.  That would have been more interesting, at least I know who that is.  Of course, at this point it wasn't important.  What was important was the reveal earlier that the Source itself was directing these events and it finally succeeded in its mission this issue, to recombine with it's other half.  Mister Miracle and Metron are killed towards the story's end. Superman, who was knocked out after the destruction of the Source Wall, wakes up to see Miracle and Metron dead, takes off to hunt the Infinity Man.  The only New God left now is Darkseid.  The issue ends with a stand off between Darkseid and the Source.  The ending looks to kick some ass.

Thor - Honestly, it could have been better.  The art by Marko Djurdjevic, however, was excellent.  The story is meant for hardcover collections which means it's dragging ass.  Not to say it was bad, but if it's all for the HCs why am I buying the single issues?  The story centers around Thor entering the Odinsleep after the events of the last issue, resurrecting the Norse Gods and repopulating Asgard (which is now in the middle of Kansas).  So, totally wasted, he needs to recover.  When he enters his...what is that, a coffin?  When he gets in and the chamber is sealed his alter ego, Don Blake, suddenly appears.  Straczynski, being the egotistical asshole that he is, decides to show off and somehow insert quantum physics as the explanation dropping Schroedinger and his cat, half dead, half alive...dude, just say magic, okay!  Magic, magic is the answer, it's a fucking comic!  Geez...anyway, so Thor, being half dead, reunites with Odin, who's totally dead and fighting Surtur.  Odin tells him the story of how Thor is destined to let Odin remain dead cause that's what he did with his own dad.  It was an okay story, like I said, but nothing happens.  Absolutely one for the collections.

Now for the bad...

Justice League - Pointless.  Seems villains are being sent off to some prison planet.  Whoops, they aren't getting there.  Cause if they were this would probably interfere with Salvation Run.  Oh, and Batman sends Martian Manhunter over there.  When this happens, I don't know.  Whoops, they don't find him and face off against some asshole I didn't know about before now.  Who wrote this?  Alan Burnett...well, it sucked Alan.  Good job.

Countdown - Garbage.  Told from the point of view from some Cadmus asshole that I never heard of.  The main characters of the series mope about before being attacked by a giant tapeworm looking thing nesting in the still very dead body of Karate Kid.  And this virus has spread all over the world now.  And, still, no one remembers any of our heroes.  Six issues to go and there's no way in hell the story can recover at this point.  Um...can I get my money back?  The series started okay, went downhill, got really good for a while and now has finally taken a shit and died.  How is any of this shit relevent to Final Crisis?  Death of the New Gods seems relevent, JSA is relevent, this shit is just killing me.

This just leaves me to finish Warbound and Grendel.  Warbound has been a bit "meh" but Grendel is fuckwin.

Time for a smoke.

Absolute Dark Knight

Got it in tonight and let me say it is absolutely gorgeous!  It came in pretty good condition too.  Mail order is always a risk, especially for a book as heavy as that one.  One corner of the slip is a touch bent but overall I'm pleased.  And goddamn is it thick.  Not as thick as my Absolute Sandman books, but all thing considered I am in love.  An excellent investment if I do say.

Flipping through the book the larger format lends itself to easier reading.  A lot of panels in The Dark Knight Returns are tiny and make it a pain in the ass, but this bigger size makes it less of a strain.  For The Dark Knight Strikes Again it makes no difference cause Miller did away with that format in favor of bigger, splashier layouts (much to the detriment of the story) but it doesn't hurt it at least.

Tons of extras in the back as well.  Lots of random script pages.  Honestly, that kinda sucks cause in the tenth anniversary edition they reprint the entire original script for issue four and shows how different the original ending was compared to the final, and much improved, ending.  In this they kinda throw out random script pages.  It would also have been nice to see full size cover reprints instead of quarter page reprints.  Come on, that cover for The Dark Knight Returns #1 is too iconic to be relagated to a quarter page.  If I were buying this for extras alone, I would be disappointed.  But I didn't so it's not a problem.  What really matters is it has the whole damn Frank MIller story in one giant snazzy collection.  The hardcover itself has a beautiful wrap-around slip featuring Batman on the front and Robin on the back.  The hardcover itself is a giant close-up of Batman from the cover of The Dark Knight Returns #1.  The slipcase is like the slip but in black and white (and the sides reversed with Batman in back and Robin in front).  The images are new with Batman vaguely looking more like Wildcat than Batman.  Sorry, it's true.  Hell, that last shot of Batman in The Dark Knight Strikes Again looks just like Wildcat.  If Miller did do a Wildcat series at least we know it would kick ass.  How about another Batman/Wildcat mini?

But I digress.

Now I think I can start reading the story.  Over the weekend I re-read The Dark Knight Strikes Again.  Why I read the second part before the first?  No reason.  But now I need to read the The Dark Knight Returns.  Just really dive in.  This giant ass edition will make it a treat.

Gorgeous!  Absolutely gorgeous!  I got it for $70 bucks off of Buy.com and it is worth it.  Highly recommended.

New Comics Wednesday

Countdown to Final Crisis 6
Death of the New Gods #7
Grendel: Behold The Devil #5
Justice League of America #19
Incredible Hercules #115
Thor #7
Warbound #4

Was also supposed to get the new Captain America, Angel and Flash but apparently there was some kinda fuck up on Diamond's end and Andy never got 'em. Still, plenty of goodies. Unfortunately, haven't read a single one. I was going to this evening but I decided to take a nap instead cause my stomach felt a bit crappy. Put on some Rush, laid down and all was well after a couple of hours.

I wouldn't have needed the damn nap if I hadn't had to waste my time with the jury duty thing. I get there at 8:45 and (eventually) talk to the clerk and she says the whole thing was cancelled and pushed back to next week. Great! Fucking great. Fucking fantabulous. Could have been home stroking myself to sleep but the judge decided today would be a good day to ogle jailbait on the Island.

Though at least getting there was pleasant. The day before there was a wildfire somewhere and everything smelled like barbecue all night and most of the day. Gotta love burning mesquite.

Also, that Absolute Dark Knight should be in by the afternoon. Passed through Dallas Tuesday afternoon which means it'll be here when I wake up. WOO!!!!!!!

Can't wait.

The One Oh Third!

AHA!

See, this blog comes in handy for once!

I served on the 103rd district court with Judge Leal presiding.  Yeah, they'll need to know that if I expect to get out of jury duty.

Stop meeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to Target this morning to buy a new clock for the kitchen and got everything but the fucking clock.

Cat litter was needed, soap was needed (16 bars for $5 bucks, beat that!), wine was.....*Ahem*...okay, not needed.  Nor was that copy of John Adams by David McCullough (fuck, could have saved money through Amazon) or that other dumb book I got for mom.  A couple of other small items for cleaning and it all comes out to about $80 some odd bucks.  FUUUUUUCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good thing I didn't get that copy of Terminator 2.

As for the wine, I picked up a bottle of Kendall Jackson riesling and a chianti by Castello di Gabbiano.

An, uh...expensive morning.

Work is impossible

They slashed my hours to keep me from getting overtime.  Then my hours went up cause my front desk manager didn't want to have to leave so late at night which was cool.  So now last week I ended up working half an hour over.  Well, apparently I'm now getting paid zero overtime.  Fuck it, they've never paid me right for the fractions of an hour.  Ever.  Deny they ever do it wrong or pass the buck.  Take home would actually be the same in the end.  It's just the acknowledgement really.  Man, I fucking hate these people.  Getting what I'm owed involves a greater headache then it's worth.  I can't wait...I'm fucking ecstatic at the thought of leaving this place in the summer.

In better news, I did the  stupidest thing and ordered me a copy of DC's Absolute Dark Knight hardcover.  Oh man, a couple of weeks ago it was (I think) $62 and change on Buy.com and now it's $70 and change.  This story is just a classic, too good to pass up for so cheap.  The normal going price is $99 bucks and this is too good a deal to pass up.  I was hoping to get a copy of the Absolute DC: The New Frontier instead but since the release of the animated movie on DVD, and subsequent accolades, it's become impossible to find.  I'm probably screwed at this point.  Even the paperback editions are sold out.

So why is this stupid?

Cause a couple of weeks ago I backordered copies of The Big O and The Big O II from Rightstuf.com.  They were on sale!  I got them for $20 bucks a piece!  How could I pass that up?!?!  Yeah, totally irresponsible.  (I also preordered Lucky Star which hits in May.)  I'm banking on the fact that I ordered at the last minute and that I'm at the back of the line which could take about a month before shipment.  Hell, it's happened before.

But back to The Dark Knight Returns...I busted out my old TPB copy, the tenth anniversary edition, that I got back in high school.  Man, it's been forever.  I really ought to re-read it.  I also have the individual issues of The Dark Knight Strikes Again which is also included in the Absolute Edition.  I don't think I ever really appreciated this story back then.  Now...Jesus.  Need more Frank Miller!  So yeah, I'm gonna sit down and re-read the whole damn thing once I get my new copy in the mail.  Oh, this is gonna look so good on my bookshelf!

So those last few books

Punisher - Ugh!  Starts off strong and then, for whatever reason, Garth Ennis proceeds to dive hard into left-wing anti-Americanism.  According to Ennis, half a million Iraqis have died, 20% of the officer casualty rate in Vietnam was due to fragging and the present crop of American generals have absolutely zero combat experience and are thus completely unqualified.  The half a million thing I was willing to brush off.  Hell, character talking, right?  Not everything is the writer's opinion.  Well, next up is the frag thing.  ARGH!  Okay, I declare two times a trend.  The portrayal of American generals as incompetent was the icing on the cake.  Not a big deal considering, hell, they are the villains of this story (and the story goes on longer then I've been reading the title, apparently) but COME ON!  Sorry, Garth Ennis is a great writer.  He loves him some war stories which he does spectacularly.  To peddle bullshit is beneath him.  Seriously, it just tainted the whole story for me.  I mean, I couldn't get into it.  Not like I'm averse to left-wing bullshit, it's everywhere, but from a writer of Ennis's caliber it's an extreme disappointment.  No point in reading the rest of the series.

Marvel Comcs Presents - Dropping this one too.  The Vanguard story seems to have jumped the shark at some point.  I think it was a couple of issues back.  Was never interested in the Weapon Omega story and the other fillers...suck.  The Kazar three parter was retarded and the last two one off fillers have been lame.

Booster Gold - Okay, this was good.  Unfortunately, I get left with the impression that it's another title being written for the collections.  This issue is dealing with the repercussions of Blue Beetle getting saved in the past and not getting killed like he should have.  Maxwell Lord and the OMACs have taken over.  Sweet!  The series isn't as strong as it should be, but it's a fun read.\

Next week looks good.  New Death of the New Gods, new Hercules, new Thor, new Captain America.....Can't wait!

New Comics Wednesday

BOOSTER GOLD #7
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 7
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #22
MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #7
NOVA #11
PUNISHER #55
X-FACTOR #29

Cool, not a bad week.

Countdown has left me baffled.  For the past few weeks it's been getting really exciting and now...what the fuck?  Karate Kid is dead by the end of the issue but nothing really interesting happens.

Green Lantern Corps is kinda fillery right now with this Alpha Lantern story.  The story intersects with what's happening in Green Lantern, though, so it has that.  Overall, the last two issues have left me a little cold.  Guy Gardner really needs to be the focus of this title, not some interchangeable aliens that no one gives a shit about.

Nova was pretty sweet.  Slowed down a little this month while Nova chats up Warlock who tells him he can't do shit for him.  Warlock...man, talk about continuity fuck up.  He died in the beginning of the X-Tinction Agenda story, kinda sorta comes back as an amalgamated character along with (very much dead) Doug Ramsey ("Douglock") in the Phalanx Covenant story.  Then shit gets horribley convoluted and...well, who cares.  Another one of my favorite characters that they've gone and taken a giant shit on.  Thanks, Marvel.  Thanks a bunch.  Okay, well, maybe they haven't fucked it that badly.  Sure, they dropped the Douglock Phalanx look back in favor of the old school 80s Warlock design, but why he is where he's at is lamely explained (also, in X-Force, they're reintroducing Magus which oughtta be fun).  At any rate, the issue itself was pretty good, but it was mostly a lot of exposition explaining this and that with little forward movement.

X-Factor, I've decided, is a soap opera where sweet fuck all actually happens.  Sure, it's pretty well written, but I'm having a hard time giving a shit about any of these characters.   Jaime Madrox knocked up Theresa Cassidy.  Great!  *Yawn*  Needs more Layla Miller.  Why Peter David didn't spend time working that story is beyond me.  Still, it has its moments.  But buying this in single issue format?  Maybe I should stick to TPBs.  I'll be dropping most everything in a couple of months anyway, so that'll be a nonissue.

Punisher, MCP and Booster Gold are gonna have to wait until the morning.

Now as for last week's books, a quick overview.

Buffy - She's gone lezzo!  Man, what a fucking hysterical issue.  Loved it.

Uncanny - Kitty Pryde's dead.  We all saw it coming, cause Joss Whedon was set on killing someone in Astonishing X-Men, but it still sucks.  Like I was saying about Marvel ruining my favorite old school characters?  Well, Kitty Pryde was seemingly immune to this.  So they fucking kill her instead.  Great.  Course, that wasn't the point of the issue.  I'm not sure what was.  Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colossus get into a bar fight while Angel gets high and Scott and Emma screw a lot.

Green Lantern - Introduction of the Red Lanterns.  And...um...nothing much else I guess.

X-Force - Pretty good first issue, pretty lame second issue.

Detective - Not bad.  Read it on the shitter mostly.  Character thing with Batman getting a hold of some mysterical armor that sends him a little batty, tries to kill a guy.  Needs more Paul Dini writing.

ClanDestine - Fuck yes!  Old school!  I love every single character in this series.  I love the dialogue.  I love the art.  Alan Davis is my lord and saviour.  The older I get, the more I crave old school comics and this is one.  Also a cameo by the old Claremont/Davis Excalibur team from around the Cross Time Caper story arc.  Why Marvel only publishes a ClanDestine story once every ten or so years is beyond me.  Davis, while not the best writer, can really knock it out of the ballpark when he wants to.  He really brings his characters to life.  They have personality all their own and a complex family dynamic.  Davis creates these characters, gives them traits, throws a situation at them and basically sees how they react.  Nothing feels forced with this series and the story seems to be flowing forward naturally.  More please.

New Avengers volume one

Right, so I've read the first six issues contained in the giant New Avengers hardcover I got in Monday.

So far, so good.  And honestly, the Marvel Universe is starting to make a little more sense.  Guess Brian Michael Bendis really is running the whole show over there.

Anyway, so the team is mostly formed.  Sentry joins in the next story and Ronin looks like he comes in later.  Guess I will be picking up volume two.  The story was fine.  I had no major objections.  It ran kinda slow.  In fact, if I tried picking this up in single issue format I would be cursing Bendis to the heavens.  He's not writing a serialized monthly comic, he's writing GNs and splitting them into 22 page formats.  That's fine if you just pick up the collections, but it sucks for the monthly reader which I am thankfully not (though I did pick up the most recent issue for shits and giggles).  The dialogue is far too self-referential and snappy.  Very Whedon-esque but lacking in the fact that it's not being written by Joss Whedon.  Mind you, I laughed my ass off in quite a few places, but that's cause I'm a dork.  The first six part story could have wrppaed in three or four, but Bendis likes his decompression.  No rush.  He is setting the stage for major future events.  Characters are pretty right on.  Spider-Woman...well, who cares?  Spider-Man makes with the funny and Luke Cage is the Cage presented in Alias.  More of a tough asshole.  Iron Man is definitely Iron Man and Cap...seems...off.  Maybe it's cause he drawn like he has downs sydrome or something, but this Captain America is slightly less then inspiring.

Speaking of the art, the first arc is drawn by Dave Finch who has...what happened?!?!?!?!  Sure, the women all look hot and he's still basically a poor man's Marc Silvestri and all but holy shit it's flashy to the point of incomprehension.  And any charadcter lacking in tits he clearly could care less about.  Why does Cap look like a fucking mongoloid?  Jesus, if not for the token woman that everyone wants to fuck the shit out of this series would fail on the art alone.  Thankfully, Steve McNiven comes in for the second part.  Now his characters are...better.  Slightly.  I don't like his angles.  And...well, shit, it's kinda hard to put my finger on it.  The lips on his characters are all distractingly weird.  He does add a certain "thickness" to everything.  I don't know, maybe it's the fact that he's trying to go for a certain degree of realism that it takes away from that fantasy aspect of it all.  But, I haven't read the story yet.  It does involve the X-Men, beating the shit out of one of the Wrecking Crew and doing some mental clean-up on Sentry who is a scizophrenic as powerful as Superman.  Most importantly it introduces the Illuminati.  Looks cool though.

Overall I'm pleased.  I can see myself picking up the next volume in April.

Now, as for the single issue that I picked up, well, it was okay I suppose but honestly it was something that wasn't worth three bucks for.  It was Luke Cage and his wife Jessica Jones seperating.  That was it.  A break up.  NO action, nothing, just people talking.  Bendis likes people talking.  Talk, talk, talk.  Anyone getting beat?  No, just talking.

This series can absolutely be saved for the collections.

Rudy

Ya know, the movie with Sean Astin.

Honestly?

Manly tears.

Yeah, I got a little blubbery at the end when he gets to make two
plays and get counted as part of the team. Watch him sack the
quarterback was totally sweet. What a fucking great movie. When I
was a kid I just understood the plot to be "talentless loser gets
carried out of game for achieving sweet fuck all." Man, was I stupid.
What a great movie. Sean Astin is one of those actors that is really
good but you never really remember his name or what he was in. He'll
probably be one of those great unknowns, or just the guy that was in
The Goonies and The Lord Of The Rings. He really sold it. So many
opportunities to make Rudy seem like a retarded obnoxious fanboy. The
movie could have at any time descended into parody. Amazingy enough
it didn't. I'm not saying it's the best sports movie I ever saw but
it was a fucking great movie.

Not bad for $5 whole dollars.

Weird day

Gout in my left foot starts kicking my ass.  Can barely walk.  Painkillers are finally kicking in.

Come home, the german shephard is trapped in my bathroom.  How he got trapped in my bathroom is known only to dog and God.

Dog freaked out, shit all over the floor.  No, not on the floor.  On the towels that I leave on the floor.  The degree to which he shit is a mystery.  Maybe a little, it was ground plenty into my towels.  Maybe a lot if he ate it, but he's not known for eating shit.  Must have been in their several hours cause he also pulled the plug out of the shower looking for water.

I got five hours of very fitful sleep.

Notice for jury duty in the mail when I wake up.  Municipal court.  I gotta show up on the 19th.

Strangely, except for the gout, I'm not really bothered by any of this.  Must be all that wine I've been drinking lately.

New Comics Wednesday

Buffy #12
ClanDestine #2
Countdown 8
Detective Comics #842
Green Lantern #28
New Avengers #38
Uncanny X-Men #496
X-Force #2

And it would have been great to read at least one or two books but between the ironing, cleaning and my FUCKING DOG SHITTING ALL OVER THE HOUSE I had a busy night. Didn't even get a chance to shave.

So I gotta hit up HEB before getting home. It's just as well, I needed a few things anyway. Now it's a few things plus a couple of bottles of pet stain remover. Great.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to add one.

Fuck shit fuck shit

Fucking 'Pubs run precinct caucuses like the Dems and I'm only now finding this out.

I feel almost...disenfranchised.

Ah well, no big.  Don't think the 'Pub caucuses work the same way as the Dem ones anyway.

Briefly searching through the internets I found a decent explanation of the process by way of the Star Telegram.  According to the article, the 'Pub caucuses are to ultimately choose the actual delegates who will attend the national convention.  So I guess that means the actual vote total is done by way of the primary.  S'cool, so no disenfrachisement.  Still, would have been nice to get out of the house.  My allergies were fucking killing me.  Only so many times I can sneeze before I start wishing for the sweet cold embrace of death.

Amazon can be fast

Got my shit in the mail today.  So the Goldwater book and two Leave it to Chance books are in.  Great.  Though I completely forgot to check the mail and didn't realize until I came back from walking Cole.  Oh look, a great big fucking...box?  Oh shit! 

Alas, it served as a supreme distraction from watching Jericho as I had already missed ten minutes cause I had to go walk Kaiser.  Man, that dog takes the stinkiest shit!

The Buy.com part of the shit I ordered shipped all the way from Jersey so I probably won't see it until next week.

Voted!

Ron Paul.

Was considering voting Hillary cause of my extreme dislike of Obama but I have no intention of voting Democrat in the general election so I decided against it.  With Giuliani and Thompson out, there was no point in voting for either of them.  Ron Paul is at least still technically in the game.  Also, since he is a libertarian, I might as well vote based on that fact alone.  Maybe some party bosses down the line will realize that libertarians are an honest to God voting bloc willing to vote for the party and act accordingly.  Maybe.  Maybe I'll win a million dollars and fuck off to a cabin deep in the Alaskan wilderness.

Almost voted Democrat by accident though.  Went to the polls, got in (a) line and handed the woman at the table my shit before I realized they only had one set of ballots.  I asked and they pointed me towards the right place.  Follow the signs they said.  Whoops!  Yeah, gotta watch for them signs.  When I got to the Republican poll they asked me if I did in fact want to vote Republican.  Would have been nice if they asked that at the other end.  But Whatever.  Filled out the one field though and nothing else.  Most other candidates were running unopposed except for three that I hadn't been following.  Then filled out the three poll questions on the back.  Voter ID?  Yes.  Enforcement of immigration law at all levels?  You betcha.  Ther was one other one about limiting spending increases to population growth and inflation except for in emergencies.  Hell, I was on a roll so I said yes to that too (though I should have left it blank).

Put my ballot in the machine and thus ended my patriotic duty for Flying Spaghetti Monster and...party?  Ppfffttttt!!!!!!  Sheit.

After that I went home, took Mom out to breakfast and saw her off as she went to Killeen.  The Dear Sister is finally getting towards finishing her friggin PhD.  Best educated housewife in the world, I tell ya.

The new wines!

Went with that Louis Jadot Beaujolais Burgundy red table wine...thing I had mentioned before. And also went with a white after all. A pinot grigio from Cavit Collection. So a French red and an Italian white.

Looks like roast beef tonight, so I guess I'll crack open the red. I read online that I can stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes to get it at the right temperature. Sounds good.

I keep putting off getting a shiraz. Next week, dammit, I will!

New Library Thing Page

I've undertaken to seperate my book and comic book collections. Looking at my LibraryThing page, I noticed it was kinda ridiculous for me to list only my hardcover collections and not my softcover TPBs. So, with that in mind, I created a new page listing exclusively all my collections.

It's still a work in progress, but it's about half done right now. I just gotta crack open one box and start jotting down ISBN numbers so I can start punching them in at work.

Lots of old Marvel collections. I can't remember the first TPB I ever bought, but I think I still have every collection since I started collecting comics when I was 9 years old. Lost lots of comics over the years, but the TPBs have proven harder to get rid of.

Some of the collections are stupid. Yeah, Super Mario Bros. and Zelda. Some collections are incomplete, like Preacher and Akira. Some are original graphic novels like Excalibur: Weird War III and The New Mutants. Some just plain suck. But there it all is(ish).

I don't think I have over 200. Library Thing limits free pages to 200 before making you pay for more space. I think I should get fairly close, even with the stuff I just ordered, but I shouldn't go over. I hope. I got lots of small two issue collections from Image/Top Cow for series like The Darkness and Witchblade. Otherwise I think the remainder is mostly big fat collection of X-Men, Spider-Man and some other random stuff. Oh, and Strangers in Paraidse, can't forget that one.

Can't wait to get the rest up.

Cable & Deadpool #50

Ya know, most comics end pretty lame.  The 90s JLA for example.  Ended as a prelude to Infinite Crisis.  Lame!

Cable & Deadpool, though just Deadpool by the end, ended pretty well.  Honestly, I don't know why I started reading it to begin with.  It tied in nicely with the events of X-Men #197 - #200 (C&D...41, 42, 43?  Whichever).  Hell, beat the shit out of those issues overall.  But after that it got kinda...tedious.  Some of the crossover stuff with other characters was okay, but by the end I was glad it was over.  The last issue, though, was a gem.  It really needed more of that.  The humor really falls flat.  Deadpool was funniest during the early part of his first series with...well, whoever the hell that writer was.  Joe Kelly!  Thank you Wikipedia.  Then I think Christopher Priest took over.  Then it got canceled and replaced with a title called Agent X (Marvel was tired of paying Rob Liefeld royalties and canceled Deadpool, Cable and X-Force...which are all back).  Agent X was garbage just by looking at it.  This must have bene true for many people, cause Marvel canceled it and brought back Deadpool (Cable, being renamed Soldier X, surely suffered the same problem).  So Deadpool is brought back, teamed with Cable and thus brings us to Cable & Deadpool.  Loved by a diehard cadre of fans (basically 4Chan's /co/), it was lucky to last this long.

Since I was sucked back in to comic collecting by reading /co/ on 4Chan far too many times (and being pissed off by the AICN Assholes characterizations of the titles they read) I jumped back in to collecting.  In essence, I was suckered in by /co/.  Thanks /co/, that's money I'm never getting back.

Um, ya know, maybe I didn't like this series nearly as much as I thought I did.  I think I might have disliked it for the most part.  Goddammit!

Well, last issue was really good though.  Deadpool running around, shooting dinosaurs and being an asshole.  Yeah, that's the stuff that I liked the most.

Daniel Way is supposedly gonna be writing a new Deadpool series.  I have no experience with this guy's writing so I can't say if this is a good thing or not.  All I know is he won't be Joe Kelly, that's for certain.

Wine part ah fuck it

Well, red wines definitely agree with me.  White wines less so.  The sauvignon blanc was good, but I just have no real taste for it.  Though I did spend the morning drinking half the bottle determining what temperature (roughly) it's best at.  I think I have been drinking it too cold.  And I'll tell you what, it all tastes much better after work.

So I think when I go to the store I'm gonna pick me up this cheap bottle of Burgundy I saw.  It doesn't say much else, so for all I know it's cheap imported bum wine but what the hell.  As for white...well, I'm debating whether I should or not.  I can go for a pinot grigio I suppose.  Alternatively, I can just start sticking to reds and get a shiraz or syrah.  I haven't decided, but I am getting kind of impatient with the whites.