Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Books. Comics. Movies. Travel. Grey Gardens.

Hello.

I am afraid it is already very late, and thanks to an evening out for dinner, followed by a catch-up call with my folks (just returned from Disneyworld), and catching up on a few things around the house, I am afraid we come to a third evening in which I have not written a post in which I review any media.  Partially, because no media has been consumed.

I feel I should post this evening because tomorrow night I am off to the movies to see a double bill of Shock Corridor and Naked Kiss at The Paramount's Stateside Theater.  You are welcome to join me.  At this time, I believe I am going alone.

Books:

During my commute, I am listening to For Whom the Bell Tolls*.  I also finally cracked Grant Morrison's Supergods over the weekend.

Supergods is covering a lot of history I already know, so I am really hoping it finds a new direction soon.  the Hemingway book is fantastic.  I'm pretty skimpy on my Hemingway, having only read short stories, some assigned stuff, and A Farewell to Arms.  Quite enjoying the audio book.


Comics:

Wednesday sees the arrival of Before Watchmen.  I won't return to discussing the project in this post, but its another DC product I'm leaving on the shelf.

But I am picking up a few books this week.  Action Comics.  Popeye.  Fury Max.  iZombie and X-O Manowar (which had at least an interesting first issue).  But looking at the picks for September...  Man, it looks a little bleak one year on from The New 52.


Movies:

Of course Wednesday, I'll be at the double bill of Shock Corridor and Naked Kiss, so maybe see you there.

Sunday I'm off to see Prometheus with Matty, Nicole and JuanD.  Should be a hoot.  I'm mostly looking forward to Scott's visual spectacle.  If the story pans out, all the better.

My Blu-Ray of John Carter is coming soon.  A movie not many saw, but which I really liked.  Here's to Planetary Romance.

For next week, I don't have anything on my Paramount schedule, but I do have a ticket to see The Old Dark  House at The Alamo Ritz.  It's a classic, but one that rarely screens.  This should be fun.  Again, I'm going alone, so if anyone wants to buy themselves a ticket, let me know.

Just FYI:  Realized tonight there's a strong chance I'm not going because...


Travel:  

Next week I'm off to Boston for most of the week for work.  I'm presenting with a colleague from Florida.  We'll be out in the "Quincy" area, wherever the heck that is.  I've never been to Boston, and I won't get to do any touristing.  It's going to be all-conference, all the time.

No, I am not telling you where or when I'm presenting, Mom and Dad.


Grey Gardens:

Home ownership has finally caught up with us.  In the past couple of weeks, we found a small stain in our laundry room was actually indicating a roof leak that hadn't leaked thanks to the SEVERE DROUGHT plaguing Texas.

May showers led to a leak that dripped between the walls of two rooms upstairs and straight down into the ceiling of our dining room.  A room which is delightfully free from any real furniture, so, it all ended okay after we lost some plaster, etc...

Then, our air conditioner died for a few days there.

I keep waiting for raccoons to start wandering through the living room.

Jamie has taken care of hiring people who can fix these things, and she has provided oversight of repairs.  We are keeping the slow decay of our home at bay for the time being.  Its just a bit taxing to even deal with, money aside.


That's it.

I gotta go to bed.

As a last thing...  the new album is out from Advance Base, if that's your thing.


*spoiler:  It tolls for THEE

3 comments:

Paul Toohey said...

True story: in high school I started reading For Whom the Bell Tolls because I liked the Meallica song by the same name.

The League said...

Hey, whatever gets you interested, I say. You're not the first person to chase down a book thanks to a reference or literary allusion.

I'm assuming the "I started reading" bit means that even your love for "Ride the Lightning" did not translate to finishing the book.

Simon MacDonald said...

Comics:

Lemme know how that XO Manowar series progresses. I enjoyed the old Valiant series way back when. Interested to see if it captures any of that magic. In other comic news I've been making my way through the Usagi Yojimbo archives from Dark Horse. Man, that is some really great comics. Sakai is a superb draftsman and he has this great visual trick where he does a two page layout which has one horizontal panel that takes up the top of both pages and the bottom left page has 4 panels as well as another 4 panels on the bottom right. Plus the hand lettering is another bonus.

Movies:

I can't wait to read your spoiler filled Prometheus review. I'm hoping that it doesn't fall into the regular prequel trap. Yay, John Carter coming to DVD means I'll finally be able to watch it.

Travel:

Boston is actually a pretty great city to visit. There is lots of stuff to do. If you actually get time ping me as I've been to Boston many times. Qunicy is about 20 minutes south of Boston proper.