Buys
As promised (to myself), I got Seasons 2 through 4 of The Wire on DVD, based on my enjoyment of the first one. Along with that, Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, the second volume of Chris Ware's sketchbooks (really beautiful books, but then I'm a big fan of Chris Ware... still kicking myself I never got that Ware lunch box Dark Horse was peddling some years ago), and best of all, the OMAC Omnibus. Yee-haw!
"Accomplishments"
Books: Finished Grant Morrison: The Early Years by Timothy Callahan, available from the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. It covers his work on Zenith, Arkham Asylum, Animal Man, Gothic and Doom Patrol, from a literary standpoint (without taking itself too seriously). I don't think there are plans for it, but I would definitely read Callahan's observations on later work (especially the more opaque stuff like Invisibles, Filth and Seaguy). He makes points I had never noticed, but also misses some I have, which isn't surprising given the richness of most of Morrison's stuff.
DVDs: Only flipped Glengarry Glen Ross, the film of the Pulitzer-winning play by David Mamet. I had no real idea what to expect, though it starred quite a cast: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon (the DVD includes some nice homage interviews), Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin and Jonathan Pryce. There are a couple of really great speeches in there about the amorality (no immorality, you understand) or salesmanship and both the play and the film stand as a sort of indictment of that particular ethos. Mamet always was interested in the con game... The DVD offers a number of short, but good, commentary tracks (that jump to the right point) and lots of interviews (including some with real real estate salesmen), plus bits from old documentaries, the Actor's Studio and Charlie Rose.
RPGs: Last Monday, we started a spy scenario that we're going to finish tomorrow. I LIKE spy games. They consistently have the right mix of investigation, NPC interaction (and seduction) and action. By Tuesday though, we were discussing working on a game with a longer reach than these one-shots we've been fiddling with. I offered my players 5 possible campaigns (a space opera, a time travel game in which they play themselves, a Space 1889 story, a badass GURPS Black Ops campaign, and something with superheroes in ancient times). Half the players like Black Ops but hate time travel, the other half, the opposite. I'm trying to sell them the Black Ops myself. Let you know how it goes.
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 9 (from Logopolis).
GTA4 completion: 53.84%. Addiction Level: Detox / Retox.
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Second Printing is turning out to be one of my new favorite blogs. This week, I might have recommended Devon's essay on why it's difficult to write the Riddler adequately, Big Mike's Rogue's Gallery of the mail-order comics world, or Benhatt's great comparison between the Alien movies and Secret Invasion. So I'm recommending all three!
As promised (to myself), I got Seasons 2 through 4 of The Wire on DVD, based on my enjoyment of the first one. Along with that, Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, the second volume of Chris Ware's sketchbooks (really beautiful books, but then I'm a big fan of Chris Ware... still kicking myself I never got that Ware lunch box Dark Horse was peddling some years ago), and best of all, the OMAC Omnibus. Yee-haw!
"Accomplishments"
Books: Finished Grant Morrison: The Early Years by Timothy Callahan, available from the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. It covers his work on Zenith, Arkham Asylum, Animal Man, Gothic and Doom Patrol, from a literary standpoint (without taking itself too seriously). I don't think there are plans for it, but I would definitely read Callahan's observations on later work (especially the more opaque stuff like Invisibles, Filth and Seaguy). He makes points I had never noticed, but also misses some I have, which isn't surprising given the richness of most of Morrison's stuff.
DVDs: Only flipped Glengarry Glen Ross, the film of the Pulitzer-winning play by David Mamet. I had no real idea what to expect, though it starred quite a cast: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon (the DVD includes some nice homage interviews), Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin and Jonathan Pryce. There are a couple of really great speeches in there about the amorality (no immorality, you understand) or salesmanship and both the play and the film stand as a sort of indictment of that particular ethos. Mamet always was interested in the con game... The DVD offers a number of short, but good, commentary tracks (that jump to the right point) and lots of interviews (including some with real real estate salesmen), plus bits from old documentaries, the Actor's Studio and Charlie Rose.
RPGs: Last Monday, we started a spy scenario that we're going to finish tomorrow. I LIKE spy games. They consistently have the right mix of investigation, NPC interaction (and seduction) and action. By Tuesday though, we were discussing working on a game with a longer reach than these one-shots we've been fiddling with. I offered my players 5 possible campaigns (a space opera, a time travel game in which they play themselves, a Space 1889 story, a badass GURPS Black Ops campaign, and something with superheroes in ancient times). Half the players like Black Ops but hate time travel, the other half, the opposite. I'm trying to sell them the Black Ops myself. Let you know how it goes.New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 9 (from Logopolis).
GTA4 completion: 53.84%. Addiction Level: Detox / Retox.
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Second Printing is turning out to be one of my new favorite blogs. This week, I might have recommended Devon's essay on why it's difficult to write the Riddler adequately, Big Mike's Rogue's Gallery of the mail-order comics world, or Benhatt's great comparison between the Alien movies and Secret Invasion. So I'm recommending all three!
Comments
"Have you ever taken a dump that makes you feel like you've slept for 12 hours?"
I do have a book of essays about the Legion of Super-Heroes coming out soon (but I only contributed two chapters to that one).
Thanks for reading!
I am totally planning to get the Legion book though (the way Sims as been pimping it - shameless ;-)).
Thanks for popping in Tim. Much honored.