Book Review: The Hard Way Up

    The third book in A. Bertram Chandler’s John Grimes series, “The Hard Way Up” follows Grimes’ first foray into commanding a vessel of his own.  Across seven short stories, we’re treated to Grimes and his crew facing off against various Science Fictional dilemmas and foes.

    It’s classic Golden Age Science Fiction stuff.  Rocket ships, bug-eyed aliens, space dames, and Australians.  Interesting worlds and trouble with authority.  It’s solid entertainment.  This isn’t high art.  This isn’t going to change hearts and minds.  This is fun, adventurous fiction.  A great read.  It was written in the 60s and early 70s, so there is some of the typical sexism and I think a bit of racism; but not worse than usual from that time.  Otherwise, a great read.

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: Black Science Volume 2

    The first volume of this science fiction series (read my review here) thrust the reader into the mad dimension hopping world with little regard.  You had to pick your way through the various characters and their back stories with little help.  A mad scientist, his lover and partner, his kids, his estranged wife, his sleazy boss (?), his mysterious assistant, etc.  And the tech?  What is it?  What does it do and what does it mean?  I had a hard time following it at first, partially because so much was happening, and partly because some of the characters looked a bit too similar.

    The art in volume 2 seems to have improved a bit (it was already good), and the various characters have taken on a bit more distinctiveness.  The color pallet is beautiful, and I really like the hazy look of the Native guy’s Black Science flashback.

    Volume 2 feels a bit less feverish, a bit easier to read and follow.  The pace is still breakneck, with plenty of twists, action, danger, and high stakes.  And the overall theme, or plot of the book becomes more apparent.  There seems to be a building dimension war, with variations of characters from each reality trying to grab power, right wrongs, and what have you.

    My earlier sense that the Pulp/30s/50s vibe of the comic’s design belies its 70s bitterness has grown.  I have very vague recollections of a TV show called Otherworld, which kind of freaked me out as a lad.  This comic reminds me of those feelings.  As well as stuff like The Star Lost, UFO, The Quiet Earth, and other, more pessimistic and strange science fiction.  The characters are all complex, and most of them are kinda bad.  It’s even hinted at that in the multiverse, our protagonists might not be the ‘good’ versions.  In fact, they might be the villains for much more virtuous counterparts.  Or not.

    As happened at the end of volume 1, I found myself wishing I had the next volume at hand upon finishing 2.  I want to find out what happens next, and it sucks that I’ve got to wait for…I don’t know, six months or so, for the next volume to come out.  I guess in that sense, it’s kind of like waiting for entries in a film series, where you know it’s coming, but you’ve got to wait.  I’m sure, when it’s all out, I’ll have to give it a start to finish re-read.  So, while this isn’t my favorite science fiction comic on the market right now (East of West, maybe?), it’s very good, getting better, and I recommend checking it out.

Black Science Volume 2: Welcome, Nowhere
Author: Rick Remender
Artist: Matteo Scalera
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-63215-018-9

-Matthew J. Constantine

Black Belt in Barstools

It seems like an unconscionably long time since we've mentioned Pam Grier here.  So, in the interests of public health, I recommend our readers consume 2 to 4 Pam Grier films in the next few days.  Foxy Brown, The Arena, Jackie Brown, Friday Foster, Greased Lightning... It's up to you.  Just do it.  You'll feel better.  I'll feel better.  It's just a good idea.

-Matt

The House of Mystery #204

I love this 1972 Bernie Wrightson cover.  Man, that guy.

-Matt

Comic Review: Black Science Volume 1

    It’s no secret that I love science fiction.  Old time, pulp science fiction with rocket ships and ray guns holds an especial place in my heart.  So, when I see a fishbowl helmet, a ray gun, weird aliens, and the title Black Science…well, let’s just say, you’ve got me attention.  I recently read the first volume of  Remender’s Fear Agent, which I liked a good deal for its pulpy swagger.  So I sat down to Black Science to see what it was all about.

    I’m going to start off with the negative.  The first problem (taking the book as a whole, this is more of an annoyance than a problem) I had was that several of the characters looked too similar.  Enough so that even after having read the whole volume, I’m not 100% sure which female with long black hair was which (Sara, Rebecca, Jen? I don’t know.).  This was exacerbated by, and in turn exacerbated some confusing use of time jumping.  When you’ve got a story about hopping dimensions, and you tell it in a non-linier way, without using time/place identifying caption boxes, it becomes difficult to follow if you can’t easily identify everyone involved.  Someone dies on page 6, and at two different times later in the volume I was surprised to find out it wasn’t a different character.  In fact, I’m still not clear on who it was.  I went back and found the character’s name, but I can’t figure out what relation said person has to the rest of the characters.  Maybe I should have been taking notes.

    OK, so that bit of confusion aside, the actual story is pretty darned cool.  Though hanging with the trappings of pulp-era science fiction (it sometimes feels like a more serious Venture Bros.), there’s the haunted, damaged, paranoid vibe of 70s science fiction at its emotional core.  Grant McKay isn’t a good man at all.  He’s bordering on evil genius.  Many of the people he works with aren’t so good either.  They have some of that post-60s Utopian zeal, tinged with the bitterness of failure.  I like how the tensions are turned right up from the start.  It hits the ground running, and doesn’t let up.  Always a countdown, always a thing on their heels, always a danger from within.  It’s fast paced, to say the least, and it doesn’t let you relax.  And it’s full of the weird, crazy, over the top kinds of ideas that I love.  Some of the worlds they visit are extremely intriguing.

    Occasionally confusing character design aside, I loved the art.  There’s something of Azpiri, the artist behind Heavy Metal regular Lorna, and something of 2000AD’s look and feel.  But plenty of unique and fun stuff of its own.  Scalera’s panel to panel, visual storytelling is solid.  And Dean White’s coloring is quite good.  I love some of the odd color choices that lend places more alien aspects (George Lucas & James Cameron, take note).

    The end of the book left me very, very hungry to find out what happens next.  So many cans of worms have been opened, the whole multiverse is up for grabs.  What will be found as more layers of the Onion are pealed?  What horrors await on the next jump?  I have to assume that this is a limited series, with an ending in mind.  I can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen.  And I strongly recommend it for people looking for something outside the superhero/mopy teen genres that are so popular.

Black Science Volume 1: How to Fall Forever
Author: Rick Remender
Artist: Matteo Scalera
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-967-6

-Matthew J. Constantine

Book Review: Annihilation

    Who the heck is Jeff VanderMeer, and where the heck did he come from?!  Well, turns out, he’s been around for a while, working frequently as an anthologist, and penning a few stories as well.  And he’s been garnering some acclaim for that.  But, due to my general disappointment with the state of science fiction today (I’ll go out and wave my cane at whippersnappers later) I’d never heard of the guy.  Now I have, and I won’t soon forget.

    Did you like Lost?  Do you like weird, challenging stories that hint at much bigger things?  Do you enjoy that unsettling feeling created in the best horror (not the jump-scare/gore horror that is so common, but the real, intellectually terrifying stuff)?  I do, and this delivers.  Alienness and the slow, creeping madness it instills in people gives the book a terrible menace that builds and builds.  What could possibly be worse or more shattering than the previous discovery?  Try the next one.

    The book unfolds like a puzzle.  It’s the journal of a biologist, recording her part in an expedition into a corrupted landscape called Area X.  What is it?  Who made it?  How long has it been there?  Why?  So many questions and too few answers.  But it is the questions that linger.  And who is this biologist, anyway?  Is she a reliable narrator?  Why did she sign up?  Who are these other women on the expedition?

    Annihilation is the first part of the Southern Reach trilogy, which will be completely published before the end of the year (no waiting years on end for the next part of the story).  It should appeal to fans of Lovecraft and his disciples, fans of Lost and Fringe, and fans of mysterious adventure.  I was frequently reminded of the strange science fiction that trickled out in the late 60s and 70s, and of the works of Robert Charles Wilson.  I’ve heard good things about the second book, Authority, which has recently been published.  And I understand that it is stylistically quite different, giving more indication as to why this was split into three books.  The final book, Acceptance, is due out in September.

Annihilation
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
ISBN: 978-0-374-10409-2

-Matthew J. Constantine

Dork Hero: Pam Grier

I know we've talked a lot about her on this blog, but sometimes it's worth reminding folks how awesome Pam Grier is.  Today, on her birthday, I'm thankful for all the joy she has brought to me over the years.

Five Favorite Pam Grier Movies:
5) Hit Man
4) Friday Foster
3) Foxy Brown
2) Jackie Brown
1) Coffy


-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (3/30/14-4/5/14)

    Another good week for this dork.  Too many sleepless nights, though.  I can’t believe the insanity of the times we live in.  For dorks like me, this is a wonderful and weird time.  Marvel Comics are hitting the big screen to critical and financial success.  Science fiction movies are starting to be taken somewhat seriously, and there are even occasional good ones.  It’s wild.  But it brings with it some negative elements, too.  I recently went back and watched some classic Doctor Who, just to remind myself why I love that show.  Like late-coming comic fans who claim their favorite superhero is Hawkeye (NOBODY’s favorite hero is Hawkeye!), the new Who has produced a good deal of new fans who make older fans like me feel kind of awkward and uncomfortable.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m glad the new show is a success, and I love that it’s bringing in new generations of fans.  I am.  I just can’t relate to them.  What they love about the show is not at all what I love about the show.  In fact, more often than not, what they love about the show seems to be the stuff that’s making me less and less of a fan of the new series.  Still, young nerds are our future.  I should remember that.  Anyway, on with the week.

Put the screwdriver away and use your brain!

    Sunday morning, I read the first two volumes of Abe Sapien.  It’s OK.  At best.  For part of the Mignola universe, it’s pretty disappointing.

Grand Hotel:  This pioneering ‘all star cast’ film is full of wit and charm and fun characters.  It’s gorgeously produced and keeps a good pace.  There isn’t a plot, so much as a bunch of characters going through various arcs of their life over a couple of days stay.  From residential folks to temporary guests, the quirks and concerns of people give way to humor and drama.  Everyone is so good, but my personal favorite is John Barrymore, who is so charming and so sad as the down on his luck baron in desperate need of some quick cash.  A must see film.

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers:  Ultra 80s with a strong dose of J.G. Ballard, this is one of the few good stories of the last few years of classic who.  There are gangs, oppressive guards, robots, cannibals, and a cowardly action hero.  I like the look and general vibe, which I’ve said before, reminds me of 2000AD comics.  The late years of Doctor Who make me kind of sad, but this is one of the few bright spots, and so earns some marks.  It’s what Who could have been in the late 80s, as opposed to the lackluster stories that were much more common.

Mulholland Drive:  “It’s been that kind of a day.”  In many ways this film is Lost Highway Redux.  It covers some of the same themes, similar storytelling techniques, and general mood.  The major difference is the lesbian angle, which seems to be what made critics who hated Lost Highway love Mulholland Drive.  It is some wonderful David Lynch madness, and it’s got some great performances and great scenes.  But it doesn’t feel as smooth, or as (I can’t believe I’m going to use this word) coherent.  This is a nightmare turned into a film, and as such, it’s kind of beautiful, but also very frightening in a way horror films rarely are.

Noah:  This never gets as bugnuts crazy as the source material, but it is high myth-fantasy, and as such isn’t bad.  The first two thirds of the film is the best.  Honestly, once the Flood happens (sorry…spoilers) the film drops several gears and I found myself just waiting for the eventual end.  But up to that point, it was entertaining.  I wish the Watchers and that armored dog thing weren’t the only creatures, though.  Jewish myth and a lot of early proto-Christian mysticism has so much crazy I’d have loved to see them attempt.  Where were the Nephilim?  Where were the ‘wheels within wheels and covered in eyes?’  Still, flame-burst swords, drug-trip conversations with the divine, and Rock-Ents.  Oh, yeah.  Drunken Russell Crowe.  Awesome.  Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins play exactly the same character they play in all these historic/fantasy films.  Not great, but not bad.  And easily the best thing Aronofsky has done since The Fountain.

Drink blazing hot redemption, sinners!

The Legacy:  Typical, boring 1970s horror movie, The Legacy features the conspicuous credulity of protagonists that was common in the time.  Everyone seems perfectly willing to simply accept that there’s a witch cult, that they’re doing black magic, and that everyone’s in on it.  No question, no ‘this can’t be happening,’ nothing.  The leads are super dull, and Sam Elliot does NOT work as a romantic interest.  It’s competently shot, but ultimately dull.

Captain America: The First Avenger:  I still wish this movie was a more solid Captain America film, and less of an opening chapter for The Avengers.  I wanted the whole thing to be set during World War II, and for those couple of montages to be spread out into the meat of the film, the battle against Red Skull.  That said, watching it again, and looking at the film as part of a greater whole that Marvel/Disney is building, the film works much better.  That’s something I’m finding interesting about all this crazy business.  They’re making movies that are individually OK, that when taken as a whole are kind of amazing.  All the connections, all the world building, all the ground work being put in place for an ever expanding series of films.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier:  This is a sort of nerd nirvana that is still blowing my mind.  The story in this is OK.  It’s a pale shadow of Ed Brubaker’s Winter Soldier comic, but it’s not bad.  Characters get more time, we see Cap deal with some of the effects of his dislocation in time, and we get many nods to various comic characters and ideas that I need a guide to figure out.  I really enjoyed the addition of Falcon, and I liked him and Cap as a team.  I’m still not really sold on Black Widow in the films.  I don’t know if it’s the actress or the writing, but whatever the case, she’s typically the most iffy part for me.  There’s much more of her in this film, and while not bad, it wasn’t holding my interest.  Which is too bad, since I’d liked her so much in the Captain America comics I read.

Black Plague (aka Anazapata):  “Don’t look at us! There’s none of us can write.”  A kind of run of the mill Medieval mystery/drama.  It’s well made, I suppose, and fairly well produced.  But it’s simply not all that interesting.  And as the movie goes on, you start to realize it’s another one of those movies where all men are monsters and all women their perpetual victims.  And the film isn’t even French.

Moby Dick: “From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee!”  Obsession and madness drive men to their graves in this adaptation of the nautical classic.  Like Joseph Conrad, I’ve never been able to get into reading Melville, but also like Conrad, I find elements of story and theme that resonate, even if the writing doesn’t.  The finale of the film is pretty awesome, and I love the look of the whale and its violence.  However, it felt like the movie was overall, a bit too stodgy, a bit too traditional.  It’s a story that begs for a more Gothic or even Noir style.  I wanted the extremes of the men to be echoed in extremes of design and cinematography.  Instead, the somewhat utilitarian filming seems tone deaf.  That is, except for Orson Welles’s opening sermon and the film’s climax, which are pretty wild.

Dredd:  This is the hardcore, ultra-violent cyberpunk movie I’ve been hungering for since Robocop.  They finally get Dredd right, get his world right, and make a heck of an entertaining movie.  The cast is good, the effects are kind of beautiful, and the violence is crazy…and also beautiful, it its way.  Grim, bloody, and tough as hell.  I love it.  It’s developed quite the cult following since hitting DVD.  Here’s hoping that gets enough attention to get a sequel.  But I doubt it.  Still, we got a proper Judge Anderson, finally.  Even if it is as a rookie.

Forbidden Planet:  I was kickin’ around when this popped up on TCM, and I had to watch it.  Great movie.  I’ve seen it many times before, and I love it every time.

    I had Forbidden Planet on while I was working on my list of hoped for Marvel movies of the future.  And after working on it, and thinking about Captain America 2, I had to put on my copy of Trouble Man.

What if Marvel Madness happened in the 70s?!

Trouble Man:  “T is the last man in this world I want looking for me.”  Mr. T is one seriously bad dude.  He’s got the world on a string, but somebody is looking to start some trouble.  As he unravels the conspiracy, he chews through the underworld.  Robert Hooks is super cool.  This one is right up there, near the top of the list when it comes to great Blaxploitation films.  I don’t know why it isn’t talked about as much as some of the others.  It should be.  See it.

    And that’s it.  This ended up being a bit of a weird week, where plans fell through a couple times, and a lot of stuff ended up playing out differently than I’d expected.  But it all worked out.  And I did finally, finally get a little sleep.  I’m still trying to get more reading done.  After that surge of comic reading last week, I’ve been somewhat lax.  And I really, really need to finish Lord of Light, which I started a dogs age ago.  But it’s tough.  You need to be focused, and I’m not.  Anyway, next week is already shaping up to be a good one.  So, ‘til next time.

-Matt

Trouble Man

If you haven't seen Robert Hooks in Trouble Man, you're missing out.  This guy is like a proto-Statham, so cool and so tough, nothing is going to stop him when he's looking to do some damage.  The film features several excellent character actors and an absolutely fantastic Marvin Gaye score.  Go out and get it.

-Matt

Another Fistful of Marvel Wannabes! (Matt’s Picks)

    So, it’s been another year and Marvel/Disney keeps amping things up.  The second Captain America just came out.  Guardians of the Galaxy appears to be a real thing that is happening.  I’ve seen the trailer.  I don’t think it’s a hoax.  They keep saying Ant-Man is really happening.  And now I’m hearing a lot of rumor around Dr. Strange (come on, Mads Mikkelsen!) and a Black Widow spin-off.  Madness.  There’s also talk of a post WWII series about Agent Carter, which I think could be great (along with several NetFlix series that are supposed to build up to The Defenders…crazy).  A year on, and I wanted to return to my hopes for Marvel films of the future.  Especially with talk of their cinematic universe being mapped out to 2028 or some such.  Here are some more of the Marvel characters I want to see them get serious about.  If they can do Guardians of the Galaxy, they can do anything.  And yes, I would absolutely pay money to see a Squirrel Girl movie.

5.  Misty Knight & Colleen Wing, The Daughters of the Dragon:  This pair of martial arts wielding detectives could be a great deal of fun to watch.  My inclination would be to set this in the 1970s, but realistically I’m sure it would have to play more contemporary.  Perhaps this could link in to the proposed NetFlix series centered around the Defenders.  It seems more ‘ground level,’ less over the top super-power action.

4.  Nova:  It looks like the Nova Corps is going to be showing up in Guardians of the Galaxy, which I’m cool with.  They’re basically like the Green Lantern Corps, except that DC/WB managed to screw that up royally like they do with everything other than Batman.  So, here’s hoping Guardians gets a cosmic spin-off.  This is the side of the Marvel Universe I most want to see explored.  Let’s see Asgardians and Kree fighting, Nova Corps keeping the peace, and a Herald of Galactus (how about Nova?).  See also; The Space Knights.

3.  MODOK:  Not just because he was born in my home town, I think MODOK needs a movie.  This is in part because I like A.I.M., and think they should show up in the films, and because the Marvel movies need a couple big, long term villains.  Hydra might be settling in to be one, but they need more recurring villains, and MODOK could be a really good fit.

2.  Captain Marvel (either Monica Rambeau or Carol Danvers):  A running theme in discussion of comic book movies is DC’s inability to pull its head out of its own butt.  And one of the primary sources of this anatomical difficulty is their handling of women generally, and Wonder Woman specifically.  There have been several people to take the title of Captain Marvel, but Rambeau and Danvers seem the most likely choices.  I personally lean toward Rambeau.  Captain Marvel could be the Wonder Woman movie DC can't figure out how to make.

1.  Beta Ray Bill:  A monster of science, designed to save a civilization, Beta Ray Bill and Thor butt heads, only to become brothers in arms.  Beta Ray even models his costume on the Asgardian, and at one point proved himself worthy of wielding Thor’s Hammer.

    There are, of course, countless other characters I’d love to see, story arcs that could be adapted.  How about a variation of Marvels?  Film right issues would mean several of that time spanning story’s events would have to be altered, but it could make for a powerful film if done right.  What do they have planned?  I don’t know.  But the future of Marvel movies is bright.  Very bright.

Don't get a waif to play She-Hulk.

--Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (8/21/11-8/27/11)

    The week began with some history, got shaken up by an tremor, was cut and bruised, remembered the 80s, and was finally mildly moistened by a giant storm.  What a weirdly eventful week, if not always a pleasant one.  As always, the movies are up first.


Family Guy: Blue Harvest:  A somewhat funny homage to the original films, there are plenty of fun gags for fans, and some of the usual Family Guy stuff.  It’s not bad.  I did laugh a few times.  But it all feels kind of meh.  Like, these jokes have all been told over the last 30 years by countless other Star Wars fans.  Still, oddly, it did give me a hankerin’ to watch the originals again.

The Ward:  AKA, The Bored.  The movie looks great.  But it’s just a collection of typical haunting crap.  Every jump, every visual, every music cue seems familiar…because it is.  This has all been done before.  Frequently.  And then the end.  Holy crap.  Garbage.  John Carpenter.  What happened, man?

She just watched the end of the movie.

Chu Chin Chow:  An early musical Arabian Nights film, this is interesting, but not especially good.  There are some great moments, and some cool visuals.  But the music is grating and the plot kind of dull.  Worth watching for fans of older movies, especially older fantasy films.  But, sadly, not that great.

Horrible Bosses:  While not ground breaking or especially fresh, this comedy is a good deal of laugh out loud fun.  The cast all do a good job.  Even the usually bland Jennifer Aniston is pretty good.  There are plenty of good bits.  And that cat.  Man, that just made me laugh.

Doctor Who: The Invasion of Time:  Sadly, for Leela’s last story, they return to the Doctor’s homeworld.  Never among my favorite stories, at least this one is less dull than others featuring the Time Lords.  Not really all that much to say about this one.  It’s kind of long, and feels like two stories linked together.

Family Guy: Something…Dark Side:  A bit better than the first one, this is fairly funny, with a bunch of the usual Family Guy jokes dropped in.  The Star Wars jokes are a touch less obvious, thus a bit more surprising and fun.  Like the first one, it makes me want to watch the original films again.

Cadfael: The Devil’s Novice:  Another murder for the good Brother to investigate.  While his fellows are quick to blame a brash young man, or demons, Brother Cadfael uses logic and his worldly experience to get to the heart of the problem.  A solid episode from a fine show.

    Brad and I got to the AFI Silver to see a couple grand old 80s classics.  By what I’m assuming was coincidence, both films featured character actor John Hallam.  But it made for a fun ‘double shot.’

Flash Gordon:  “I'm flying blind on a rocket-cycle!”  One of the things I love about movies in the early 80s (like the 50s) is their almost complete lack of cynicism.  There is nothing ironic about Flash Gordon.  Nothing dismissive.  The filmmakers and the cast took the madness of the old serials and did their darnedest give it a go.  Everyone just went for it.  Over the top sets, extremely grandiose rock music soundtrack, and actors shamelessly punching for the gold.  I miss movies like this.  Movies that were fun without being embarrassed about it.  It’s not to say they’re not made anymore.  But they seem less common than in the early 80s or the 50s.

Liveforce:  “She’s destroyed worlds.”  Sprawling, epic, and strange, Lifeforce is a great bit of semi-Lovecraftian horror/science fiction.  Based on the novel The Space Vampires, what starts as an astronaut adventure, turns into a kind of gothic horror film, then morphs again into a zombie apocalypse, and then kicks up the crazy in the final couple minutes.  A fantastic cast of character actors, some epic music, the physical perfection of Mathilda May, and some killer special effects make for a great forgotten classic.

Land of the Minotaur:  Typical of the Pagan/Satanist subgenre of horror films, this movie is quite boring.  The most dangerous enemy our heroes face seems to be shoddy editing.  Very Euro-70s, and very blah.

In a weird way, this pic totally sums up the film.

The Haunted Strangler:  It kind of goes on too long.  The climactic event happens, then the movie drifts through another fairly substantial act.  But, this is a pretty good movie.  Good cast.  Karloff is excellent.  The film is quite grim, and has some surprisingly brutal bits for the era.

The Atomic Submarine:  Not really a great film, but not a bad submarine/alien invasion mash-up.  Early on, it’s a bit slow, but it picks up near the end with some strange effects and creature.

    I also watched a few episodes of the old Western TV show, Wanted Dead of Alive, with Steve McQueen.  Not bad.  Not especially memorable, like Have Gun, Will Travel, but still quite watchable.

    On Sunday, my friend Ben and I traveled out to the Dulles area, to the Udvar-Hazy Center.  Well worth the trip if you’re into air and/or space vehicles.  Some pretty impressive displays.  It’s a little freaky to be standing right next to some famous pieces of history.  If I had a complaint, it’s that there’s almost too much stuff.  It’s a bit packed in in places.  But, then, that also means there’s plenty of stuff for everyone.

    On Tuesday, as most readers probably already know, and many no doubt felt, the east coast got shaken up by a quake.  I was at work, and other than having some stuff fall over, wasn’t effected too much.  At first, I just assumed it was someone walking on our roof to mess with our constantly troublesome AC unit.

    Unfortunately, on Wednesday, I was personally shaken by a stupid bike crash.  Done cycle while tired.  I flipped my handlebars and banged up my knees pretty bad, so I’ve been hobbling more than usual for the last few days.  Still, could have been MUCH worse.  Some painful surface damage will fade given some time.

I just don't know how it happened.

    And then, to top it off, according to the weather channels, the end of the world rolled over in the form of Hurricane Irene.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Some places got hit really hard, and my heart goes out to those people.  But, as the storm was rolling over this area, and I was listening to the weather folks going into fits of ecstasy as they explained just how horrible and disastrous it was outside at that very moment, I felt something of a disconnect while looking out my window and seeing a mild rain.  I’m glad it wasn’t worse.  But, once again, my contempt for the sensationalist nature of news people rises.  The people who perpetrate this sort of panic inducing chicanery should be held responsible for any damage caused by the panic they create.

    Anyway, I’ve been poking around at some of my comic goodness from the recent convention and a from last year.  I started reading Jim Rugg's Afrodisiac.  I got some of my prints framed and hung up (hope to have more pics coming up).

    I’ve been listening to a bit of Portishead over the last week.  They’re one of my favorite currently active bands, and once in a while I feel the need to listen to a bunch of it.

-Matt