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LostPhrack: The Sexiest Antidepressant
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| Ouch! |
[29 May 2012|04:59pm] |
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The Wall Street Journal ran a beautifully brutal piece on Marvel and DC over the weekend. Ostensibly a review of "Leaping Tall Buildings", a non-fiction book focused on exploring the lives of some of American comics greatest creators, the article takes aim a the shoddy treatment of the creators touching upon the Kirby lawsuits, Siegel and Shuster getting $130 for Superman and even the upcoming Watchman Begins. In fact! The comments about Watchman Begins are quite possibly my favorite from the article. Book Review: Leaping Tall Buildings
The first issues of "Before Watchmen" will be published next month. Among the writers working on it is former He-Man scripter J. Michael Straczynski, who once penned a comic in which Spider-Man sold his marriage to the devil. (This is the rough equivalent of having Z-movie director Uwe Boll film a studio-funded prequel to Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver.")
It's really good and worth reading.
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| 2012 Reading List Update! |
[06 May 2012|12:11am] |
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Book 9 is done!
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
4. From the Front Porch to the Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America by Beth L. Bailey
5. Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
6. MM9 by Hiroshi Yamamoto
7. Caledor by Gav Thorpe
8. The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Louis Borges
9. Palace of the Plague Lord by C.L. Werner
Palace of the Plague Lord was a Warhammer Fantasy novel I got for Christmas. I was in the mood to read about Nurgle so I turned to it rather than The Vampire Genevieve like I had originally intended. It was pretty good and some of the descriptions were nasty in the extreme. Werner's got a way with words that kind of reminds me of Robert E. Howards Conan stories but a bit more purple. It's also the first of his planned four novel series focusing on the Chaos Wastes and the major Chaos Gods from the Warhammer universe. He's only written two so far and the next one is Blood for the Blood God. I don't have it yet so no idea when I'll ever get around to reading it.
Not quite sure what to turn to next again. I'm tempted to check out Rocket Girls or Real World though. Both are English translations of Japanese novels and are things I could easily plop onto my review blog. Leaning towards Real World at the moment since the Japanese manga/anime/novels blogs seem to ignore Kirino's work in favor of sci-fi/fantasy/horror and light novel stuff. Guess we'll find out soon!
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| Avatar: The Legend of Korra |
[02 May 2012|02:10pm] |
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On the offhand chance that you're interested in this series but haven't had a chance to catch it on TV, the episodes are available online legally through Nick's website. Here's the link to the Legend of Korra video page.
Personally I've been enjoying the hell out of it so far. Loving the setting, the designs, the fights, etc. I think it's a good follow up to the damn good original series. It's also nice to see a super powered female protagonist who kicks ass and wears clothing.
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| The Raid: Redemption |
[17 Apr 2012|01:25am] |
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Saw this over the weekend...
And oh. My. GOD! is it ever fantastic. It's essentially 80 minutes of boots to faces and knives to throats. Seriously amazing action flick. Low on plot, high on insanely intense fight scenes. I think it's probably my favorite action movie in ages. Amazing stuff. Definitely worth checking out if it's playing in your area and you're looking for a movie to see.
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| 2012 Read List Update |
[10 Apr 2012|11:12pm] |
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Two down in one day! Go me!
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
4. From the Front Porch to the Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America by Beth L. Bailey
5. Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
6. MM9 by Hiroshi Yamamoto
7. Caledor by Gav Thorpe
8. The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Louis Borges
Caledor was the final part of The Sundering trilogy, part of the Warhammer: Time of Legends novel line that Black Library is rolling out. Combined with Malekith and The Shadow King, Caledor finishes the tale of the splitting of the elven race and the destruction of a large chunk of their kingdom's Western shore. It didn't quite tie everything up in a satisfactory way, though it did bring everything to end and did a fairly good job at detailing The Sundering and the events surrounding it. Fun read if a bit unsatisfying in the end.
The Book of Imaginary Beings was a fun little read I've been slowly making my way through for a while now. It's a pseudo-encyclopedia book focusing on mythological creatures and creatures and monster from literature and more. It was interesting and enjoyable enough, not the kind of thing you really sit down with and read from cover to cover though, but yeah.. fun.
Not sure what to go to next. I'll probably return to Genevieve the Vampire though, I'm not sure I'm in the mood to really start on another book while I've still got three in the works. We'll see though!
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[03 Apr 2012|01:16am] |
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This is brilliant.
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| 2012 Reading List Update |
[22 Mar 2012|11:31pm] |
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Just finished my sixth book for the year a few hours ago.
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
4. From the Front Porch to the Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America by Beth L. Bailey
5. Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
6. MM9 by Hiroshi Yamamoto
Hey kids! Do you like kaiju movies? Then do I have a book for you! MM9 is a fun little book following the exploits of Japan's Monsterlogical Measures Department, a small group within the Japanese government tasked with handling kaiju attacks, research and more. It features a small, ensemble cast and is a light, breezy read which does a pretty good job at transferring the giant monster movie genre to the printed page. There's lot of little nods to other movies and media in the genre as well, ranging from nods to Lovecraft, Them! and the Book of Revelations. Good stuff!
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| Happy Birthday 40k! |
[13 Mar 2012|02:25pm] |
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To celebrate, have a BBC article about Warhammer. Why are adults still launching tabletop war?
Warhammer 40,000 - set in a science fantasy universe - has just turned 25. Why are grown men still launching tabletop war?
You may have walked past one of the hundreds of Games Workshops on the High Street. You may even have wandered in, especially if you are a teenage boy or the parent of one.
If you know your Necrons (virtually invincible soulless metal warriors) from your Dark Eldar (sadistic elfin pirates), the chances are you are one of the dedicated tribe who have signed up to what fans call The Hobby.
Most days of the week, on table tops in "hobby centre" shops, in office lunchrooms, and bedrooms, players gather around home-constructed battle fields with miniature ruins and petrified forests. They assemble and paint small model fighters from a chosen army (several to collect) and using dice, tape measures and special rule books, battle rival militia in a fictional science fiction universe set in the 41st Millennium, called Warhammer 40,000.
Launched 25 years ago, 40K was so named to distinguish it from traditional fantasy Warhammer of elves and vampires. Both lines, together with a Lord of the Rings brand, continue to attract hundreds of thousands of new fans in Britain and across the world - 70% of sales are abroad.
There's more in the link, including a video.
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| 2012 Reading List |
[09 Mar 2012|12:15pm] |
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Book five is done!
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
4. From the Front Porch to the Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America by Beth L. Bailey
5. Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
Available Dark is the sequel to Generation Loss and continues to follow the misadventures of Cassandra Neary. This time she ends up Iceland and finds herself wrapped up in a mystery connected to the old Northern European metal scene. I was really, really looking forward to this and definitely enjoyed it. That said, I don't think it was quite as good as Generation Loss. Still very entertaining and enjoyable though.
Think it's back to Genevieve The Vampire now.
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| 2012 Reading List Update |
[01 Mar 2012|11:13pm] |
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Polished off my fourth book for the year! The non-fiction book From the Front Porch to the Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America by Beth L. Bailey.
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
4. From the Front Porch to the Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America by Beth L. Bailey
It was a pretty interesting read. It talked a bit about customs in dating and courtship with a focus on the white middle class, claiming that with the advent of teen magazines and lifestyle magazines it was white middle class customs that were being peddled as the societal norm. There was a lengthy chapter on gender roles and the expectations placed upon young women at the time. It was fascinating and disheartening to see how so much has changed in some areas but how so little has in other. Women were blamed for rape, being told that they must have done something to provoke it and more. It was odd how at one point both genders were so infantilized that men were portrayed as fragile being scared away and threatened by any woman displaying any amount of self reliance. The advice columns of the time urged women to avoid this by being as helpless as they possibly could. I'm kind of amazed anyone got together during those days.
But yeah.. good stuff. I enjoyed it.
Not sure what I'll be reading next. Might return to Genevieve the Vampire or possibly start into Available Dark. Guess we'll see after the weekend.
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[16 Feb 2012|07:01pm] |
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I picked up Infinite Kung-Fu earlier in the week thanks to a coupon I had for my LCS. I haven't read too much of it so far, about 40 pages or so, but it's not too shabby. It's actually got me wanting to re-watch my Dragon Dynasty DVD's and that's not a bad thing at all, it's been a while since I've popped in One Armed Swordsman, 36th Chamber and what not.
Speaking of asian movies.. Netflix now has the first four "Sleepy Eyes of Death" flicks available through their mail order service! Woot! I've been curious about these since I first saw them in a store. I would have bought them then but the boxed set was something insane, like $80 + and that's just not gonna happen.
Here, have a trailer!
So yeah... it looks like my fantasy phase is passing at last. It did last over a year so hey.. I still have a butt load of fantasy novels to read though, so.. maybe not completely dead, just.. not the all consuming "must have more fantasy" urge that it once was.
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[11 Feb 2012|12:14am] |
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Played around with Facebook via one of my email addy's recently. Ehhh.. I dunno. It's weird and wants to devour all my friends lists from various sources, not sure I like the consolidation of information like that.
I also signed on AIM for the first time in ages. Oddly enough someone I haven't talked to in years saw me on and dropped me a line. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. It's not like we were terribly close to begin with, but still.. it's nice. Plus my IM circle's been shrinking this past month due to the various reasons described in friends locked entries, so.. yeah.
I have no idea where I'm going with this but I figured I'd share regardless.
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| 2012 Reading List update three! |
[07 Feb 2012|11:27pm] |
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Third novel of 2012.. done! It was a re-read of Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand, I wanted to prepare myself for the follow up novel due out next week, Available Dark.
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
3. Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
I had forgotten how utterly broken Cass Neary, the protagonist of Generation Loss, was. At times reading her exploits was like watching a train wreck even though I knew what was coming. I also found that I was better able to appreciate different aspects of the story more now then upon my first reading, particularly the revelations at the end of the book regarding the weird mythology that permeates the tale. Good stuff.
I guess I'll now be returning to Genevieve the Vampire by Jack Yeovil (Kim Newman). Not sure what I'll read afterwards, but since it's a 600 + page omnibus I'm not too worried.
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| Who knew? |
[07 Feb 2012|12:57am] |
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I so want someone to get Alan Moore to do a "Guest Booker" video and see what he'd do with the WWE. That Two And A Half Hour Alan Moore Webchat You Missed… (VIDEO BACK)
Much to the surprise of me, at least, Moore revealed that he was a fan of professional wrestling as an art-form (yes, that’s the term he used), comparing it to classical Greek theater and espousing on how it plays upon those very same tropes. However, he went on to add that his enjoyment of it has diminished in recent years due to the revelations of the many serious injuries suffered by its performers.
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| 2012 Reading List Update! |
[26 Jan 2012|05:32am] |
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Don't ask me why I'm up at 5:30 AM, I just am. Anyway, I'm just updating my reading list again. I know no one else really follows this but me, but hey.. I like having it around. It's my own little reminded to push my book reading habits further and further. Anywho.. on with it.
1. Gotrek & Felix: The Second Omnibus by William King
2. Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
Anno Dracula was pretty damn awesome despite the fact that it meander a bit in the middle. Aside from an interesting concept and some interesting characters, it was full of "Easter Eggs" and that's something I've come to appreciate thanks to Moore and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics. The extra material in the back was lovely as well and the annotations were very helpful and fun in their own right. I'm definitely looking forward to the release of Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron and I'll probably be hoping into Genevieve the Vampire next. That's a collection of stories he did for Black Library, the novel publishing arm of the company responsible for Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. Genevieve was written by Newman under a pseudonym for their Warhammer Fantasy novel line and it's apparently the first place Genevieve, one of the main characters from Anno Dracula, appears. And yeah, it's not the exact same character, their "trans-continual cousins", but still.. I'm interested in reading it now that I've read Anno Dracula.
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[22 Jan 2012|03:34pm] |
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Stumbled across this interesting little article from the NYT on Twitter this afternoon and I thought I'd share. This is just an excerpt, the full article is kind of interesting and probably worth at least one look. Guidebooks to Babylon
The first guidebooks appeared in Renaissance Venice, when the city’s aristocratic courtesans were becoming renowned throughout Europe for their accomplishment, wit and sparkling conversation. Dating from 1565, “The Catalogue of All the Principal and Most Honored Courtesans of Venice” is a list of 210 working girls, with names, addresses and fees in gold scudos. The genre took a leap forward in the carnal free-for-all of 18th-century London with “Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies,” a best-selling annual published each Christmas season from 1757 to 1795 under the name of the era’s most notorious pimp, Jack Harris. Each edition offered Zagat-style reviews of London belles, including their figures, tastes, complexions and personal hygiene (and a pre-modern-dentistry obsession with the condition of their teeth).
By studying the nine remaining editions of the List in the British Library and connecting the references over the years, the London-based historian Hallie Rubenhold created a database of some 1,000 forgotten women in the Covent Garden area, which she used as the basis for two books. The List reveals the raunchy spectacle of Georgian London, whose permissiveness is still startling today. Here we meet such feisty English roses as Miss Williams of Upper Newman Street, who is skilled at “raising them that fall and bringing the dead to life”; Miss Noble, whose tongue “has a double charm, both when speaking and when silent”; and Nancy Basket, who satisfies the predilection of the English male for a decent birching (“She flays, they say, with amazing grace”). But Rubenhold used the List to demonstrate that many women involved in prostitution were not streetwalkers or brothel workers, but “ordinary women conducting ordinary lives,” as she told me. While some of the women suffered tragic ends, succumbing to penury, alcoholism or disease, others escaped from poverty — or even vaulted into high society, thanks to the surprisingly free mingling of the classes in 18th-century London, which resulted in a level of social mobility that Victorians would drastically limit (and cover up in their family trees). “No one could rise through the ranks of society so meteorically as a working girl,” Rubenhold said. “One could go virtually overnight from a beggar to the wife of a titled British peer.”
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