Watching absolutely

ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN

I need to have this. I have the single issues, but I was planning on the trade to re-read the story for about the 8th time. This new edition sounds amazing and well worth the $100, it is being recolored and contains rarely seen supplemental material with scripts and out-of-print. I recently saw the slipcased DC Graphitti edition selling for about $300. No doubt this new edition will sell well especially considering the film is under production.

I have mixed feelings about the forthcoming film. Hollywood's track record for adapting Alan Moore's work is underwhelming, at best. I've said it on message boards before, so I will say it here: The only way to do this thing justice is to turn it into an HBO limited/mini series, film each issue as an episode, make it 12 episodes.

One of the greatest television shows of all time may finally be getting the proper DVD treatment: The Muppets.

Watched Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real last night on the Animal Planet, and for the most part, I thought it was well done. Like most of these Animal Planet specials (Walking with Dinosaurs, The Future is Wild), they repeated a good amount of the information and scenes throughout the show. For Example, after each commercial break, they recapped what they showed for the previous 10 minutes or so before they jumped to commercial. The special effects are always good on these things, and as in the specials I mention above, I enjoyed how they wove a story around the "science" of the creatures. Patrick Stewart's narration was spot-on.

I watched it thinking it would be 2 hours, it really wasn't. At the 1:30 mark, they started a behind the scenes of how they made the special. It seems everything these days has to have a behind the scenes or "how they did that." This really bothered Mrs. Blog o' Stuff, and she made a good point - the behind the scenes stuff really removed the enjoyable suspension of disbelief from the show. When you are watching the special, the creators make everything seem as if it was genuine - they put it together with the mindset that Dragons, were in fact, real. The "How they did that" threw whole spirit right out the window and ran counter to the spirit of the actual special. Like I said, I was more annoyed by the fact that I felt cheated out of 2 hours of the special.

METAL!

OzzFest 2005

BLACK SABBATH

IRON MAIDEN

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

SHADOWS FALL

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY

I need to be there, even though I've seen Maiden twice. I really want to see Shadows Fall and BLS, too. What I've heard from Killswitch Engage is pretty good, too.

The worst kept secret in Comics-to film, Joss Whedon is doing Wonder Woman, lucky bastard.

South Park was saved by SLAYER last night. To quote Cartman, "Sweeet!" This show is still consistently entertaining and no matter how gross and disgusting it's been, Trey and Matt can get lower, as was evidenced by last week's episode.

For those of you in the NJ/NY area, rumors have Ron and Fez going to XM to join Opie and Anthony, to get the band back together. As if I needed another reason to get XM.

DC FarScape

As a blogger who occasionally blogs about comics, I would be somewhat remiss if I didn't mention that DC Comics recently let us know what they will be publishing in June.

Aside from what I'd normally pick up from the Bat-Books, the ongoing 7 Soldiers, Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, the other standouts, for me are probably: Albion by Alan Moore, and Astro City: The Dark Age by Kurt Busiek. I still need to pick up Astro City: Local Heroes, but I don't think it's been released in softcover yet, though I do have two of the other volumes in HC. I've also bee thinking of picking trying Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, with the first collection selling for a nice $9.95.

I may jump back into JSA with issue #73, which is being billed as a follow-up to last years fun Black Reign saga, now being released as a TPB. Right after Black Reign, though, it seems as if Johns lost some steam so I dropped the title.

I've been getting a chance to watch my DVDs of FarScape Season 1. I started watching in the middle of the first season, so I didn't realize how many 1st season episodes I missed, and a couple of really important ones. Each episode reinforces to me how great the writing was on this show and how much planning the creators did from the very beginning. A lot of stuff that happened and seemed somewhat tangential at the time, was followed up on in the later seasons and episodes. I also forgot what a dick D'Argo was that first season, up until the middle of the season, he was pretty harsh on John. The chemistry between John and Aeryn was there from the start, Rygel was ascerbic and cranky from the beginning, too. John has yet to meet Scorpius, though.

New week, new review and a new FSF imprint

I finished up Mike Stackpole's A Secret Atlas and posted the review to SFFWorld yesterday. I enjoyed the book much more than I expected I would and I'm looking forward to getting the second in the series, Cartomancy, later this year. Not groundbreaking-reinvention Fantasy, but entertaining fantasy nonetheless, and sometimes, that's what is most important - to be able to open up the pages and simply enjoy the book.

Intentional or not, Grant Morrison's Shining Knight, part of the Seven Soldiers Über-story he's in the midst of publishing, gave me a very Moorcock/Hawkmoon-ish feel and of course I mean that in a good way. Stupid me; however, I forgot to pick up the #0 issue of Seven Soldiers a couple of weeks ago, but luckily the comic shop still had some in stock when I dropped by last Thursday. Beautiful art by J.H. Williams and a nice set up for the imposing dark threat to humanity the Soldiers will save us from, or will they?

The Fonz - A shaman? An interesting post on Lou Anders's new blog. Lou Anders is the Editorial Director of PYR books, a new FSF imprint with an interesting looking list of books publishing this year: a reprint of Star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg, the opening novel to an intriguing-looking Space Opera - Paradox by John Meaney and a nice handful of other interesting books. Meany's book has already received a couple of favorable reviews. For some reason, maybe it's just the cover, the premise and scope of Paradox reminds me a bit of Peter F. Hamilton's great Epic Fallen Dragon. I'll be keeping an eye on them and the books they'll be publishing.

Sports 'n Books

I Bowled pretty well night last night, about 15 pins higher than my average. Unfortunatley, it seems the better I do, the worse the team does. The remainder of the season will see us fighting NOT to finish in the bottom of the basement.

So it's official, Suzyn Waldman is the new Yankee radio announcer. I wasn't a big fan of Charley Steiner as a Yankee annoucer - he was long-winded and far too dramatic. This was odd, because I loved him on ESPN, particularly the commercials they threw him into, like "Bobby the new Pool Boy for Melrose Place" or "Y2K Preparation" when he tied his tie around his head. But Waldman is out and out awful. Her voice is not pleasant to listen to and she often gets players names wrong, and she's been working with the Yankee organization for a few years now. She must have incriminating pictures of the Boss.

I know Michael Kay has really moved up in his career as the Yankees TV play by play announcer, and he has been putting together solid sports talk on his great ESPN Radio show, a wonderful alternative to Mush Mouth and Fatman, but there was some great chemistry between Kay and John Sterling. At least Tim McCarver is no longer announcing the Yankee games, except for the occasional weekly game on Fox.

My local Barnes and Noble is shit, I swear. The majority of the time I go in there looking for a specific book, I walk out empty handed, despite having a couple of "back ups" to get. They often don't carry what I'm looking for. I wanted to pick up Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire. They had the follow-up, The Killing of Worlds, but not the first. I know shelf life of books is shrinking with the increase of e-commerce, as well as a bunch of other factors, but it is mindblowingly stupid not to have both books in the duology on the shelf. I was going to get E.E. Knight's Tale of the Thunderbolt, after really enjoying his first two books. There were plenty in stock of that, which is good, Knight is a solid writer who will hopefully see his readership grow. And I asked if they had pal Gary's re-release of the first three books in his Gemquest saga, now published by Windstorm Creative. I was hoping to pick up the most recent issue of both Locus and Black Gate, and of course they weren't in stock. So, out of the 5 items I was hoping to find, only one was in the store. You'd think I would have learned by now if I want a good selection I should head down to the B&N in Princeton, where I have purchased both Locus and Black Gate in the past. The B&N in Princeton also stocks almost twice as much Fantasy and Science Fiction, with some of the Gollancz and Orbit imports, a respectable selection from the smaller presses (Meisha Merlin and Wildside) and a greater selection of Graphic Novels.

Enough ranting, I'm playing poker tonight and having a nice steak dinner tomorrow night, and finishing Michael Stackpole's A Secret Atlas, which I'm enjoying a bit more than I expected, so the weekend should be enjoyable.

Robert Jordan & A Brief of How I Got Back into Fantasy

Not new news, but well…Robert Jordan’s New Spring is being adapted as a comic book (ComicBookResources, Newsarama). In all honesty, I think the Wheel of Time could work as an ongoing comic book series, and maybe even better than prose. I’ve read the books up to Winter’s Heart and while they are bloated, overlong, wordy, contain a minutia of detail, and extra-long, there are some things of interest in the series. I've since abandond the series for books/series that are actually edited and have an end in sight. I’ll probably catch up with the series once/if Jordan publishes the final book, and I may even pick up the comics. I like Mike Miller’s art, at least from seeing his previous his art on Martin’s The Hedge Knight and the samples at ComicBookResources and Newsarama look pretty good.

I’d always enjoyed the fantasy genre and like many, Jordan’s series pulled me back into reading fantasy when I graduated college many moons ago. For lack of a better term, I’d consider WOT my gatekeeper drug. I still have decent memories about the series and the early books, but re-reading The Eye of the World a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed revisiting the Two Rivers, but it didn’t compare to the likes of Matt Stover, Tad Williams, Greg Keyes, John Marco, James Barclay, Robin Hobb and most of the other authors on my sidebar. Like I said, Jordan’s world is incredibly imagined, richly (or rather almost too) detailed, and will always have a special spot in my reading world because The Wheel of Time kind of brought me back into reading fantasy just after graduating college. At least he isn’t as heavy handed, unoriginal and repetitive as NoGoodkind.

Mysteries...

Posted a review of Lisa Tuttle's The Mysteries today. I really enjoyed this novel, it wasn't too wordy (ahem), and I think I now have read the novel she wrote with George R. R. Martin - Windhaven. Up next is Mike Stackpole's A Secret Atlas. I've read a couple of his Star Wars novels and I really enjoyed Talion: Revenat. About 100 pages in and I like it so far, interesting world and good characters.

I liked Battlestar Galactica for the first couple of episodes, but after a while, the slow moving storytelling began to literally put me sleep. It's a shame because the actors for the most part are doing pretty well, the look of the show is good, too. I also missed it the past two weeks so my care for the show and what happens continues to slip. Maybe part of me is comparing it too much to FarScape, a show few, if any Science Fiction shows will measure against greatly.

Lost

Another gripping episode of Lost last night, revealing some unexpected things about Hurley. He seemed like a bit of a loner throughout most of the show, but Charlie was flat-out a dick to him. I think by the end of the show Sayid and Jack had more respect for Hurley, they say him as more than the happy-go lucky fat guy. Charlie still saw him as an oddball and didn’t take him seriously. That’s a shame since I think Charlie’s character has been developing rather well.

So we now know Hurley is cursed and for once he actually showed some anger and frustration. I guess the big question, since each episode raises more questions than answers, is this: was Hurley a patient or worker at the Mental Hospital? I wasn’t surprised to see those numbers on what I can only assume was the metal-box Locke and Boone came across. I guess we have to wait until May to see what happens next.

Via Franklin, - Grant Morrison is Evil!

EVERY CALVIN AND HOBBES, EVER!

Busy & Snowy

Quite a busy recent few days, work has been very hectic with three pretty big projects needing to go out the door on the same day. Oh yeah, it also snowed, too. I commute to and from work on the hell road that is I-287, and the past two days, with all the snow, were two of the easiest commutes I’ve had in the past year. Of course the snow has resulted in many, many more potholes, but I’ve become more familiar where they are in relation to mile-markers and Interchanges and can avoid them pretty well.

How was Wicked? Well, I have two responses. As a musical, it was very good. The story was told very effectively through song and the sets must have cost a fortune. There were some interesting things that played on the characters of the film of the Wizard of Oz, and an interesting take on what we know as the “real” story in the film. The first act was a bit slow, but it ended on a spectacular note. Shoshana Bean, the woman who portrayed Elphaba (aka the Wicked Witch of the West) has a powerful, astounding voice, and should have received top billing. In the novel Elphaba is hands down, the lead character. In the play, Glinda, the Good Witch gets top billing.

However, as an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked, it was not nearly as successful. One of the reasons I enjoyed the novel so much and why it succeeded is that Maguire didn’t change the story of the Wizard of Oz. I haven’t read the original novels by Baum so I’m going by the movie, which everyone in the world has seen. Maguire structured the novel around the events of the original story and provided background and details that were not present. The story in the novel Wicked, despite portraying Elphaba in a less villainous light, still was true to the spirit of Baum’s story. The musical however, changed a few key characters and scenes, and made the story more about Galinda/Glinda, the Good Witch. In the novel, she was an important character, but not the major player she was in the musical. I was buying some of the changes and thought they were clever, up until the end, which disappointed me. I guess it worked in the context of an alternate version of the film but as an adaptation of the novel Wicked, it was a betrayal. There were nice nods to the novel Wicked, but in the context of the musical, they made little connection since those things the play referenced in the book really didn’t make it to the stage in a manner that was important to the overall story the musical told. For example, in the novel there is a big to-do about the Clock of the Time Dragon. The physical Clock of the Time Dragon was a huge set piece on the stage. It looked pretty impressive and probably cost a fortune, but was referenced, once, maybe twice throughout the course of the musical and wasn't anything other than set dressing.

So, did I enjoy the musical? Yes, quite a bit but I think I would have enjoyed it much more had I not read the novel, and more so, if I hadn’t enjoyed the novel so thoroughly and so recently before experiencing the musical/play.

I guess this, in part is why endings can be so important. I think the last time the ending of a story felt like such a betrayal of what led up to the ending was when I read Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour. The closing scenes flew in the face of everything the protagonist did, how she acted, and what she said until that point.

Over the weekend, I picked up the first trade of Mike Carey’s Lucifer. I’ve been seeing good things about it for some time, so I figured what the Hell. Ba-dum-bum. Seriously folks, I thought it pretty good, but not a series I will run out and collect right away. There are other series I would rather finish and/or sample. I need to finish out my Y, Fables and Starman trades, Moore’s Swamp Thing and more Grant Morrison. I’ve also been intending to get into Ellis’ Planetary, too.

Seems like I wasn’t the only one who was thinking the most recent issue of Fantastic Four was Waid/Ringo’s last. One more to go, which is a good thing.

I am really excited about Lost tonight, as it looks like we will finally see the back-story of Hurley.

New SFSite on-line, with the Readers’ choice for best SF&F Books of 2004. I guess I’m a pretty good sample reader for this list since I read 7 out of the top 10 and would rank 5 or 6 of those in the list. Can’t remember the exact list I sent as my votes, but I know I didn’t list Susanna Clarke’s good, yet over-rated Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.


SFFWorld’s Fantasy Book of the Month: Sunshine by Robin McKinley. I bought it and just haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. In the midst of a couple of review books for SFFWorld.
Our Science Fiction Book of the Month: Natural History by Justina Robson.

Off to see the Witch

Going off to see Wicked tonight with Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff. Her parents gave us the tickets as a Christmas gift. We both read the book and really enjoyed it quite a bit. However, I think I liked it a bit more than her, but I also wasn't as frightened of the flying monkeys in the film as was Mrs. Blog o' Stuff. Not that the flying monkeys really factor into the story of Wicked, I just wanted to type flying monkeys.

Today also marks the 4.5 year mark of our marriage and is also our Godson’s second birthday. He is quite possibly, the most charismatic 2-year old I have ever known.

Last night, like every Thursday night between October and May was my bowling league night. I had a pretty good night, but unfortunately, we didn’t win any games. The first game is a snapshot of how this season has been going - I’m the “lead off” bowler, the first on the team to bowl, and I bowled a 204 – well above my average, and a clean game to boot (I threw a strike or spare every frame). However, the “lead off” guy on the other team threw a perfect game, a 300. Shit like this has been happening to our team the whole season.

I finished Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold yesterday. This is an omnibus of two novels (The Warrior’s Apprentice and The Vor Game) and one novella (The Mountains of Mourning). I’d been mildly hesitant to try the Vorkosigan novels for a couple of reasons. I have never been too thrilled with Baen’s mainly Military SF list, the cover art was less than appealing, and the books seemed almost too much like romance. Boy was I wrong. Thanks to the good folks in the forums I moderate, and some fellow bloggers, I purchased Young Miles (Yes, I know this is not the first, chronologically, but the store didn’t have Cordelia’s Honor at the time). Miles is very short of stature and brittle of bone, something that sets him up as a target for scorn, hatred and prejudice. He is also the son of one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. Bujold puts Miles in some tough situations, and through his great intellect, ability to think on his feet and sheer will power, he gets through things better than he had any right to get through them. He is a bit arrogant, but just through the three stories in Young Miles, he has grown as a character, and grown on me. Suffice it to say, I am hooked on following Miles adventures.

As always, Lost was great on Wednesday. These characters are full of surprises and even the ones aren’t particularly likeable (Jin, Sawyer) are intriguing. It looks like next week is finally going to show Hurley’s back-story, who did pop up in Jin & Sun’s back-story.

I'll be hitting the comic shop tomorrow to pick-up the haul from the last two weeks:

Ex Machina #8
Green Lantern: Rebirth #4
__________________
GrimJack: Killer Instinct #2
Conan #13
Batman #637
Flash #219
Wonder Woman #213
Fantastic Four #523 **
Seven Soldiers #0

** Sadly this is the final issue of the Waid/Ringo era. After reading JMS's Amazing Spider-man on and off for the past couple of years, I am a little cautious about what he's plonning on doing to the FF. Though Mike McKone on pencils should be good.

Splitting books

One of the links on my sidebar is to Rick Kleffel’s Agony Column. I click over there almost every day, since Rick has an entry almost every day. He's is a pretty reliable source for good FSF to read. Rick has a pretty good handle for the pulse of not just the FSF genre, but a good handle for book publishing in general. He highlights books that have gained rightful attention and will often highlight some lesser-known books and writers. Today, he’s got an excellent column on the recent trend publishers are taking of splitting books in two. I won’t go into too much detail, since he encapsulates my thoughts pretty well, and a lot of what members of the SFFWorld forums I moderate have said. But his main gist is this: the trend these publishers are running with has people paying $50 for a single novel rather than $25.

Much related to Rick’s write-up is a recent entry from Charles Stross’ blog (found via Tobias Buckell). I read Stross’ novel Singularity Sky when it first came out in hardcover, and while I thought it was a solid story, I was a bit overwhelmed by the hard science in it. I know, I know, it’s Science Fiction, but I don’t always go for the harder SF. Anyway, Signularity Sky was an impressive novel but I haven’t felt overly compelled to reading the follow-up, Iron Sunrise, though Stross is an author I would definitely try again. I think I will hurry things and try him again, since the conclusion to the first part in Stross’s newest Fantasy saga, The Merchant Princes will see publication of The Hidden Family in a couple of months. Actually, The Hidden Family is the second half of the first novel in what may be a longer series, the first book, The Family Trade, published late last year. Sound confusing? It is, just a little. Stross wrote a 700+ page book titled the The Merchant Princes, which Tor decided to split into two volumes** : The Family Trade and The Hidden Family. From what I’ve gathered in reading reviews on these books, and indeed from Stross himself, the books are similar to Zelazny’s Amber saga. Of course Stross’s reputation in the FSF field isn’t what it is just because his current writings are similar to Zelazny’s, many agree he’s got the chops to back it up. So like I did for Wolfe’s The Wizard Knight , I will wait for booth “parts/books” of the single novels to publish before buying and reading them. The premise sounded interesting enough, but like I said, reading Stross’ blog entry from Feb 21 really convinced me to read the books.

**as they did for Wolfe's The Wizard Knight and Jacqueline Carey's The Sundering (Banewreaker & Godslayer) two other single novel broken into two novels, because Tor isn’t making enough money on Goodkind and Jordan. That's sarcasm, by the way.

Stross' entry is also giving me a better focus for my own writing, because after all, you’ve got to have goals, right? I know writing is, for a vast majority, not the most lucrative income. Sure some writers consistently sell, and eventually sell on name alone. But for the rest of the writers, many need to have another means of income. So why do I continue to write? I feel it’s a responsibility I have to myself. I feel guilty or like I cheated myself when I break my writing regimen. I enjoy writing and creating people and worlds, sure maybe it’s a god-complex, but it is a lot o fun. Do I have dreams of one day seeing books with my name (or pseudonym) on shelves? I think anybody who has ever considered writing would be lying if they didn’t have such dreams. But while that may be a pipe dream, it isn’t the reason I continue to write. It’s something I feel that I need to do. I only wish I could devote more time of the day to it. Writing is something that comes easier the more often you do it and the longer you do it, or so writers say. There’s some truth to that, of course. So I write when I get the chance and "inch towards daylight."

Beer, writers, comics

It’s been a while since I did a beer of the week and a writer of the week. Perhaps they will now be on monthly basis. My beer of the week is a new one from Sam Adams, or at least one that’s new to me: Samuel Adams Black Lager. A pretty smooth beer with a pleasant after-taste, not the best one from Samuel Adams, but one I’d definitely partake in again. Though I really wish they would bring back their Honey Porter, loved that beer.


Writer of the month is Gene Wolfe, one of the finest living writers. Period. I finished The Wizard Knight about two weeks ago, and like all of his work that I’ve read, it continues to float in my senses and in my head. One of his greatest strengths is that his writing gets better with multiple readings, and he packs so much into what he writers, that multiple readings are a necessary joy. His Book of the New Sun is one of the acknowledged masterpieces of the SF genre, often mentioned in the same breath as Tolkien’s work, Herbert’s work, Heinlein’s work, and Vance’s work.

Sad sad news as the NHL season is cancelled. Let’s hope, as some are speculating, that when things are settled, their hopes of changing some of the rules, and what not will draw more fans. Probably the best would be the shoot-out to break ties – a no-brainer for SportsCenter highlights.

The Nebula awards have been announced:

· Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
· Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow
· The Knight, Gene Wolfe
· Omega, Jack McDevitt
· Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
· Perfect Circle, Sean Stewart

The only one I’ve read is The Knight, so I’d like to see that win. I have read and enjoyed a good handful of books by McDevitt (Moonfall, The Engines of God, Ancient Shores, and Infinity Beach), Sean Stewart’s wonderful Galveston and right now I’m reading Bujold’s Young Miles and enjoying that quite a bit.

DC Comics recently told us what they are publishing in May, and there are some interesting things. The bad news is that Fallen Angel #20 is the final issue of the series. Aside from my normal haul, I'll give Action Comics shot to see how Byrne & Simone work together, JSA since it’s touting the return of Captain Marvel and Morrison’s Seven Soldiers . I’m a sucker for big crossovers so I’ll at least try The Rann/Thanagar War & Villains United. I’m probably most looking forward to Green Lantern #1 since Pacheco’s art is amazing and I like what Johns is doing in Green Lantern: Rebirth. I may try out Desolation Jones, too. No new collections from Vertigo in May to look forward to.

And lastly, as one who blogs about comics, I’m sort of obliged to post The 100 things I love about comics:

1. 80-page and 100-page Giants
2. Alan Davis
3. Alan Moore
4. Alan Scott
5. All the Marvel comics my friend John lent me
6. back issue bins
7. Batman
8. Bizarro - not just the character, but the idea of Bizarro things in life
9. Bizarro Justice League
10. Booster Gold - not just the character but all 25 issues
11. Calvin & Hobbes
12. Captain America by Waid/Garney
13. Captain Marvel's rogue's gallery - Mr. Mind, Black Adam, etc
14. Comic Book catch-phrases "Great Hera!" "Merciful Rao!" "I SAY THEE NAY" "HOLY MOLEY!" "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" "HULK SMASH!"
15. Comic book conventions
16. Comic book "science and logic"
17. Crisis on Infinte Earths
18. Darkseid
19. DC Comics Presents
20. Definitive Runs
21. Discovering new titles and hunting down the back issues
22. Dr. Doom
23. Dressing up like Superman, Spider-man and Captain America for Halloween
24. Earth-2, Earth-S, Earth-X, Pre-Crisis DC
25. Elseworlds - before it was over-used
26. Evil Dopplegangers
27. For the Man Who Has Everything by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
28. Galactus
29. George Perez
30. Gil Kane - one of the first artists whose style I instantly recognized
31. Gorillas, especially talking telepathic gorillas
32. Grant Morrison
33. Great creative teams with Synchronicity in storytelling - Waid/Wieringo, Morrison/Quietly, Kirby/Lee, Claremont/Byrne, O'Neill/Adams
34. Green Lantern
35. Green Lantern/Green Arrow by O'neill and Adams
36. GrimJack
37. http://fanboyrampage.blogspot.com, http://www.progressiveruin.com and the rest of the comics blogo-verse
38. "Imaginary Stories"
39. In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship EVIL's might...beware my power..GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT
40. Jack Kirby
41. Jack Kirby's DC Super Powers miniseries
42. JLA/Avengers
43. John Byrne's work in the 80s
44. Julius Schwartz
45. Keeping Ma & Pa Kent alive
46. King Kirby
47. Kingdom Come
48. Krypto
49. Kurt Busiek
50. Letter columns
51. Mark Waid's run on The Flash
52. Martha Washington Goes to War by Miller/Gibbons
53. Marvel's 25th anniversary covers
54. Marvel v. DC - not so much the limited series but the years of fans bickering that inspired it
55. Marvels by Busiek & Ross
56. Morrison's JLA
57. Nazis - the ultimate comic book villians
58. Neal Adams' Batman
59. 
    
60. 
    
61. Nightcrawler Limited series from the '80s
62. Parallel Universes
63. Peter David's The Incredible Hulk
64. Preacher
65. Rogues Galleries
66. Secret Wars
67. Spider-man
68. Spider-man and his Amazing Friends
69. Stan the Man
70. Superfriends
71. Superhero Records
72. Superman/Captain Marvel battles
73. Superman/Flash Races
74. Superman: Secret Identity
75. The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay
76. The Amalgam Age of Comics
77. The Big Red Cheese - the original Captain Marvel SHAZAM!
78. The Crime Syndicate of Amerika of Earth-2 and Earth-3
79. The Crow
80. The Dark Knight Returns
81. The Fantastic Four
82. The Far Side
83. The Flash - all incarnations and the handling of the legacy of the character
84. The Tribute to the death of Barry Allen in Quasar
85. The Golden Age by Robinson & Smith
86. The Killing Joke
87. The old comics and electronics shop I visited in my youth to get $.25 & $.50 back issues
88. The Rainbow Bridge to Asgard
89. The Rogues
90. Trade Paperbacks
91. Treasury Editions from the '70s
92. Underoos - lets face they wouldn't be around without comics & superheroes - and who DIDN'T own a pair?
93. Walt Simonson's Thor
94. Watchmen
95. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
96. Wonder Woman
97. X-Men annual #11
98. Y: The Last Man
99. You will believe a man can fly - The first Superman movie
100. 12.95 Marvel Masterworks at Barnes & Noble

GrimJack!!!

Another meme from Scott, these damn things can be addictive.

You scored as Wrath. Wrath 88% Sloth 81% Gluttony 75% Lust 69% Envy 63% Pride 44% Greed 31% Seven deadly sins created with QuizFarm.com

Picked up the GrimJack trade over the weekend, recently published by IDW. People who’s opinion on comics I generally trust have mentioned this book as being great and groundbreaking. I was a wee lad when GrimJack made his first appearances, so I can’t clearly recall the book or the relevance at the time, but for a comic not published by Marvel or DC to run 80+ issues in the 80s is a pretty big deal, from any standpoint. At the time I was pretty much reading Flash, DC Presents, Superman and probably GI Joe. I can see now how, judging from those issues contained in The Legend of GrimJack: Volume 1 stand apart from what I was reading. No superheroes in tights; however, John Gaunt (aka GrimJack) does sport a pretty cool cloak/cape. This is a great concoction of Heroic Fantasy, potboiler and Science Fantasy. Just from the first pages, there are references I know that wouldn’t have clicked in my pre-pubescent 11 year world, like Melnibone and some of the other worlds mentioned, that have much more resonance now. Ostrander, in his intro, paints a really cool picture of the genesis of GrimJack, and as I was reading just that part of the book, I grew more excited about what’s down the pipe in the next GrimJack volumes, since Ostrander listed a bunch of authors, like the good ‘ol Texan Robert E. Howard, who’s work I hold in high esteem.

This was also the first purchase of any IDW comic I’ve made, though that changed as soon as I purchased GrimJack: Killer Instinct #1. The inking and coloring process has improved over the years between GrimJack’s first appearance in the new book, but the storytelling simpatico of Ostrander and Truman is still on great display.

One of the folks who got me thinking more about GrimJack is SuperCoolWriterGuy Matt Stover as a discussion on GrimJack has been going on over at [dead cities]. Anybody who reads this blog and has enjoyed Stover’s work should check out GrimJack and conversely, if you enjoy GrimJack RUN and buy Stover’s powerful novel Heroes Die, I reviewed the sequel, Blade of Tyshalle, for SFFWorld a couple of years ago and plan on re-reading it soon.

And oh yeah, Happy Hallmark day,...er rather Valentine's Day.

Wicked Fortitude

You scored as Fortitude. Fortitude- with you is the strength of mind and body. Fortitude 75% Prudence 61% Hope 61% Charity 50% Justice 50% Faith 36% Temperance 36% The Seven Heavenly Virtues created with QuizFarm.com

From pal Scott

I started Wicked by Gregory Maguire the other day, I'm about 100 pages in, and I really like it. I haven’t read any of the Oz books, but the Movie is one of my all-time favorite films. I remember watching it every year around Easter-time, and being captivated everytime and even to this day. It is really interesting seeing how Maguire is constructing the world of Oz and comparing that against what the film shows. I’ll be seeing Wicked the Musical in a couple of weeks with Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff.

Here's a good site/FAQ for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

A link and a meme

Found this link of 100 BMFs from Progressive Ruin.

The following questions found on Nate's blog:

1. First name?
Robert

2. Were you named after anyone?
My father, though my mother claims to have liked the name before my dad came along. Middle name after my godfather and my dad’s favorite uncle. Two different people, one name.

3. Do you wish on stars?
No.

4. When did you last cry?
Probably when I was drunk.

5. Do you like your handwriting?
Occasionally.

6. What's your favorite lunch meat?
Ham, of course.

7. What is your birth date?
November 7th.

8. What is your most embarrassing CD?
Probably half of the ones I now “own” since being married and “inheriting” my wife’s collection. You name it – Poison, REO Speedwagon, No Doubt, ABBA, Ace of Base.

9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Sure, and me as the other person would make fun of me-me.

10. Are you a daredevil?
No my name isn’t Matt Murdock, but sometimes I do crazy-silly things.

12. Do looks matter?
Yes.

13. How do you release anger?
Going to the gym, cursing, writing, hitting things and listening to Godsmack.

14. Where is your second home?
Yankee Stadium, I turn into a 9-year old every time I walk out and see the field, despite the fact I’ve been there dozens and dozens of times.

15. Do you trust others easily?
Too much when I shouldn’t and not enough when I should.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
A few – Mat the Bat and Spiddy the Spider I think they were both won on the Boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. Real inventive names, I know. I also had a really cool Superman doll.

17. Which class in high school do you think was totally stupid?
Calculus and when we learned square dancing in gym class.

18. Do you have a journal?
This is probably the closest thing.

19. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
No, not me.

20. What are your nicknames?
Rob. Bob. Robbie. Rob-Bob. Mark. Mark Larrold. Hess. Dinosaur. Rutgers-boy. Hubba-Bubba. Ba-Ba-Booey. The Honky-Tonky-man.

21. Would you bungee jump?
I have and I’d do it again.

22. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Sometimes.

23. Do you think that you are strong?
Yes

24. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Only one? Edy’s Light French Silk.

25. Shoe size?
12

26. Red or pink?
Red

27. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
My procrastination.

28. Who do you miss most?
My first dog, and my friend Jay.

29. Do you want everyone to whom you send this to send it back?
Didn’t receive it, cribbed it from Pal Nate.

30. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
Light Khaki pants, brown shoes.

31. What are you listening to right now?
When I originally typed this thing Howard Stern. Now that I'm posting it Kill 'em All by Metallica.

32. Last thing you ate?
Reese’s Puffs cereal.

33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Periwinkle.

34. What is the weather like right now?
Grey, after all, I do live in New Jersey.

35. Last person you talked to on the phone?
When I originally typed this thing - My Wife. Now that I'm posting it - A co-worker/supervisor.

36. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Probably overall appearance, how she’s put together.

37. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Sure, Nate seems like a pretty good guy.

38. What is your ethnicity?
American – German, Polish, Slavish and my grandfather on my dad’s side always claimed to have some Native American Indian blood. So I’m you’re average garden-variety American mutt.
39. Favorite drink?
Beer

40. Favorite sport?
Baseball.

41. Hair color?
Blonde.

42. Eye color?
Blue.

43. Do you wear contacts?
Yes

44. Are you single?
No

45. Favorite food?
Steak

46. Last movie you watched?
At home - Remember the Titans. A far superior football movie to Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday , Denzel is a more convincng coach than Pacino, who seemed a caricature of himself in Any Given Sunday. In theaters, probably Saw.

47. Favorite day of the year?
Christmas, for the giving.

48. Scary movies or happy endings?
Scary movies.

49. Summer or winter?
Summer

50. Hugs or kisses?
Both

51. Do you have any favorite rants and, if so, what are they?
When I was into watching wrestling, I enjoyed reading Scott Keith’s rants about how crappy wrestling was. I do enough ranting of my own.

52. What is your favorite dessert?
Apple Pie.

53. Who is most likely to respond?
Banzai cat may copy this to his blog.

54. Who is most likely not to respond?
Don’t really care.

55. What books are you reading?
Wicked, Gregory Maguire


56. What's on your mouse pad?
At work – the corporate logo.
At home – dogs.

57. What did you watch last on TV?
CSI, Numbers (taped from Friday) and Family Guy

58. Favorite smells?
My wife, beer, steak, onions sautéing in butter.

59. Favorite sounds?
My wife’s laughter, the sounds of dogs in the house, the sound of steak grilling, the crack of the bat at a ball park, all the sounds associated with a hockey game.

60. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
Do I have to choose? There are a lot more I'd pick before those two.

61. What's the farthest you've been from home?
Hawaii.

62. Do you have a special talent?
Ask my wife. Or making people laugh, lightening the mood.

Shinedown The Wizard

Mrs. Blog O’ Stuff picked up Shinedown’s debut CD for us the other day, Leave a Whisper. I’d been hearing Shinedown on the local rock station WDHA for over a year now and was really impressed with what I heard: the powerful ballad showcasing lead singer Brent Smith’s stunning voice: .45, both the original and the acoustic, the faster Fly from the Inside and their acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man. This is an extremely impressive debut album, Smith’s vocals are an amazing compliment to guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brent Smith and Barry Kirch’s singular musical sound. I’d probably classify the group as hard rock and call them simply great. Leave a Whisper is a polished, great sounding album, not by just debut standards, but by hard rock standards overall. I am looking forward to more of their albums and hope to see them in concert, though now I am kicking myself for not going to see them at the Starland Ballroom over the holidays in 2004. Methinks they’d be a great opening act for Godsmack if and when Godsmack tours later this year.

Also finished up The Wizard by Gene Wolfe over the weekend. Even though this was really the second part of a novel, it started off a bit more weakly than The Knight. I think that is because Wolfe switched from Able’s first person narrative to Able referring the story of his companions after they separated. Once Able came onto the stage, though, the book returned to the level of excellence Wolfe accomplished with The Knight. This isn’t to say that the early portion of The Wizard was bad, just that by comparison, not as strong as the other portions of the story. And let's face it, those who have read Wolfe will agree that reading Wolfe when he is a notch below his strongest efforts is far superior to 99% of most writers at their absolute best.

The last 100 or so pages of the novel were absolutely wonderful. Packed with emotion, thought, choices and introspection, I think it will be difficult for anything I read for the remainder of this year to move me emotionally and entertain me as much as did Wolfe’s Wizard Knight. I don’t know if Mr. Wolfe plans on penning more stories of Sir Able or any of the characters from this rich novel, but the door is open. While any of Gene Wolfe’s work is worthy of excitement, more tales of these characters would be most welcome.

Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I went to the Rutgers vs. Georgetown Basketball game on Saturday and both teams didn’t look good. Rutgers was sloppy at the end of the first half arrived, but did make a nice little comeback towards the end of the game, which was too late. Rutgers basketball does look to be getting a better profile now that Gary Waters is doing such a fine job. It would be real nice to see them in the NIT again this year, though I highly doubt they will be invited.

Good Superbowl last night, I was really hoping the Eagles would pull it off, and at the end of the game, they came pretty close, too.

A new Batman Begins trailer was shown during the game and the Web site for the movie has been pretty substantially updated. Interviews, Wallpapers & other downloads, (one of which is now on my computer). Have I geeked-out enough for this film on my blog yet? I think I'm looking forward to this even more than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith even though super-cool writer Matthew Woodring Stover has written the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization. Though I think am more looking forward to the novlization than the movie, I think.

Lastly, less than two weeks until Pitchers and Catchers!

Author! Author!

Cool things continue to happen in the SFFWorld forums. Last month K.J. Bishop joined in our monthly Fantasy Book Club discussion about her debut novel, The Etched City. This month, Jeff VanDerMeer is participating in our discussion of his novel, Veniss Underground. Karen Traviss also said she would stop by the discussion about her book City of Pearl in the Science Fiction forum. Of those books, the only one I haven't read was Mr. VanDerMeer's, but I really need to rectify that, ASAP. I read his first book The City of Saints and Madmen, and thought it one of the most imaginative, surreal and wonderful books of that year.

Watching Celebrity Poker right now on Bravo and goddamn is Chris Kattan one annoying little bastard. He sucked on SNL and he almost sucked the life out of the show tonight. Mary McCormack, on the other hand, wow is she flaunting what she has.

Wolfe & Comics

So I finished up The Knight, the first part of Gene Wolfe's latest masterpiece of a saga, The Wizard Knight, a couple of days ago and immediately dove headfirst into The Wizard. Combined they are really one single narrative novel The Wizard Knight, and not unlike the way The Lord of the Rings is actually one novel divided into three, by the publishers.

On to the book itself. One thing that always sets Wolfe's work apart is his amazing prose. I don't think I'm making any revelations, at least to those who have rad and enjoyed his work, that no other writers has such complete, artistic grasp of telling stories utilizing the first person narrative.

In another statement that won't reinvent the wheel, and it's an intentional move on the author's part, the work very much evokes the Great Fantasy Novel, The King of Elfland's Daughter. Wolfe's story takes the reader into a more fully developed Fairy/Fantasy land and the protagonist, Sir Able of the High Heart, is more developed as well.

Compared to Wolfe's other works, primarily the 12 "Sun" books, The Wizard Knight reads a bit more accessibly, but is equally as deep and engaging. This is an enchanting, beautiful novel. On the whole, a truly remarkable work of Fantastic Literature.

Decent batch of comics this week, too. The Flash was a solid issue profiling the rogue Heat Wave, Kurt Busiek is continuing his great interpretation of Howard's Conan, Mark Waid continues to shows readers why it will be a sad day when he leaves Fantastic Four. However, the strongest issue in the batch this week was without a doubt the conclusion of Morrison & Quietly's amazing, emotional WE3. Cybernetic dogs can move the emotions, and these two master storytellers proved it.

Quills and links

From locusmag.com, yet another award show: The Quills. Actually the cynicism is undeserved. NBC and Reed Business (the people who publish Publisher's Weekly) are organizing this thing for October. Being the booky person I am, I'm mildly looking forward to this. It will be interesting to see how these book awards work out. There are 16 categories including Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, Book of the Year, Graphic Novel of the Year, Desgin, and Children’s Book of the Year. The rest of the nominees and information is available at http://www.wnbc.com/quills/index.html. I guess they are sort of like the Peoples’ Choice Awards for books.

War! The Republic is crumbling

under attacks by the ruthless

Sith Lord, Count Dooku.

There are heroes on both sides.

Evil is everywhere.

Go read the rest of the intro text from Revenge of the Sith at Star Wars.com

Some may ask, will there be a video game based on the forthcoming Batman Begins? Of course. It is being made by EA Games, one of the best game companies out there (LOTR, Madden NFL, NHL 2005, MVP Baseball). Chances are I will eventually get it, but before that I need to get Prince of Persia 2 and MVP Baseball.

Overall I think its safe to say the trend of making video games based on movies is much better than making movies based on video games. Anybody remember Super Mario Brothers with Bob Hoskins, or Double Dragon with Scott Wolf (of Party of Five fame), or Mortal Kombat with Christopher Lambert [as an Asian!!!] or even the dreadful looking forthcoming game-to movies Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark? Hell at one point The Rock was rumored to star in a movie based on Spy Hunter. Fucking Spy Hunter!1

LOTR: 3rd Age and Oscars

So I’ve become addicted to the PS2 game Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. A beautifully rendered turn based RPG that allows you to shadow the Fellowship for the course of the LOTR story fighting Wargs, Uruk-Hai in Rohan, and Goblins in Moria. Over the course of the game, you meet up with Gandalf, and at one point, he fights along side your party. With all the snowfall this past weekend, a good portion my hours inside the house (i.e. not digging out my car and Mrs. Blog o' Stuff's car) were spent playing the game. This isn’t a game you can sit down and play for just 15 minutes at a time (ala NHL 2005, not that that is a bad thing, mind you), when you play, you have to realize you are dedicating at the very least 45 minutes of your time, which eventually turns into hours at a time.

The game really is an immersive extension of the film and books, Ian McKellen narrates all 100+ cut-scenes from the movie, which help the story along. I only have a couple of minor complaints about the game – one you can’t save your progress at any time, you have to trudge along until you find a checkpoint. The other thing I find a little annoying is the Elven character, who has the powerful healing spells, can only utilize those spells in battle, she can’t cast the healing spells while you are just walking around looking for the next enemy or event, this way if/when you are caught by a group of enemies you don't have to waste a turn healing. However; every time you save the game at a checkpoint, or your character levels up, your Action points (these let you pull off more powerful melee attacks, like three slashes with your sword as opposed to just one) and Hit points are refilled. And then there is the Evil Mode, which allows you to play on the side of Sauron’s Dark Forces. I haven’t tried that part yet. Overall, for LOTR junkies like me and RPG fans anywhere, this really is an absolute must have.

Speaking of LOTR, here are some scenes that didn’t quite make it. There are a lot of images, so it may take some time to load.


The Academy Awards Nominations have been released. Something very strange has happened, Jamie Foxx was nominated for both Best Supporting Actor for Collateral and Best Actor for Ray. I wonder if that has ever happened. I don’t know if it is because there is no Lord of the Rings film, but none of the nominated films or actors/actresses interests me. Eternal Sunshine stars Jim Carrey, whom I don’t really care for, so I didn’t see that one, and I don’ like DiCaprio either, so I likely will not sit through The Aviator. Sideways looks interesting only because of the all the recent buzz about it, especially because guy who played the doofus mechanic on Wings is nominated for Best Supporting Actor, though it does also star Paul Giamatti, the great actor who played Pig Vomit in Howard Stern's Private Parts.

Let me rephrase things, none of the live-action nominees really interests me. Shrek 2 and The Incredibles (surprise, surprise) join Shark Tale as the three films nominated for Best Animated Film. It’s a toss up for me between Shrek 2 and The Incredibles, but I think I’ll lean to The Incredibles, which is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

Big year for J.K. Rowling, the 6th Potter book comes out in July, the next Potter film hits theaters this fall/winter and she just gave birth, so congratulations to her.

That'll do for today.

Snow war

Just finished this last night and posted my review to SFFWorld today. This was a very imaginative novel and I am looking forward Ms. Swainston's next effort. For more of my thoughts click over to my review.

Local NY/NJ weathermen and weatherwomen are proclaiming the end of the world with the upcoming snowstorm. We are in January now and it has been under 20 degrees so snow is imminent. Whoopdee friggin do.


Picked up Wanted #6 the other day and I'd have to say, on the whole it was pretty entertaining, but not the "Watchmen for Villians" Millar claimed it was going to be.

Not much else going on right now.

Manga? Fantasty Baseball

As can be gleaned from reading my blog, I am a fan of storytelling in various formats and media – novels, comic books/graphic novels and film. One form I’ve had great intentions of trying out for some time is Manga. I’ve been a little resistant to trying it for a couple of reasons, one of which is they are mostly in black and white, but I’m getting over that, I think having recently picked up a couple of Marvel’s ESSENTIAL volumes of Spidey.

With this thought floating in the recesses of my geeky mind, I came across Tony Salvaggio’s MANGA ISLAND column on Comic Book Resources. Specifically, his early January article mentions BESERK published by Dark Horse, probably one of, if not the, first American comics publisher to import Manga to American comic shops and bookstores. This series looks to have a Conan-esque, Moorcock-esque Sword & Sorcery feel. Planetes looks interesting too, as does Ragnarok. So, my millions....and millions of readers, any Fantay or Science Fiction flavored Manga suggestions?


Ed Zwick is set to produce/direct a film adaptation of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Lions of Al-Rassan. I’ve read about half of GGK’s work and enjoyed most of it. I’ll probably get thrown in the barrel for this, but I really enjoyed Zwick’s Legends of the Fall starring Brad Pitt. It also starred Sir Anthony Hopkins. The film takes place in Montana and has a lot of mythic overtones to it, deals with World War I, and to a lesser degree, the mistreatment of Native American Indians. Overall this is a Very Good Epic story, from the sweeping landscapes of Montana, to the grittiness and horrors of War to the multigenerational story of the Ludlow family. All that said, I think Zwick has the film-making skills to translate Kay’s story from page to screen. Of course this was just announced, so it could be years (if ever), before the film sees the light of day.

I’ve got a tough decision to make in the next couple of weeks. Who on my Fantasy Baseball team from last year should I keep for this year’s team? This is the first time in the 7 or so years I’ve been in the league we decided to have keepers. We are trying it out with 3 total keepers, 2 from the first half of the draft and one from the last half.

In practice, this is pretty fair. However, I drew the #10 (out of 10) pick for last year’s draft so I didn’t get a shot at Pujols, A-Rod or a genuine top pick. I wound up picking Roy Halladay, which based on his previous two years stats. 2003 Cy Young winning season - 22-7, 204K, 3.24ERA, 1.07 WHIP; 2002 - 19-7, 168K, 2.93 ERA & 1.19 WHIP. Based on those numbers, I thought I was making a smart first pick. I figured I’d build a solid pitching staff with a Cy Young winner. But of course, that didn’t happen. His ERA was over four, his record was 8-8 and he was hurt for a good portion of the year, so he didn't rack up the innings or Strikeouts.

He was the 2nd Cy Young winner to give me the big Rajole, as I picked Barry Zito early the previous draft. Both pitchers fell flat on their face in their follow-up season. It doesn’t get much better – Brett Boone was my 2nd pick overall, who killed me early in the season. I can only keep one starting pitcher, so I’ll have to decide between Mark Mulder and Carlos (Cubs) Zambrano. Suffice it to say, I’ve got some tough fantasy baseball decisions to make down the road.

Freakin' Sweet!

Which Family Guy character are you?


New Family Guy episodes (finally) begin airing on May 1st, 2005. Freakin’ Sweet! This is easily one of my 2 or 3 favorite TV shows from the last 5 or so years.

DC Comics & collectibles for April are posted. Comic Book Resources has all the text and cover images on one page so you won’t need to click on every title to view..

The web site for The Fantastic Four movie is live, with trailers. I’m not expecting it to be in the same league as the Spider Man movies, but hoping it will be at least a head and hopefully shoulders above Daredevil.

George R. R. Martin still hasn’t finished A Feast for Crows, the fourth book in his astounding A Song of Ice and Fire saga.

The final issue of Mark Millar’s entertaining, if over-rated, Wanted will be in comic shops today. I don’t think this would be half as good without JG Jones great art. Also in the shops today is the first collection of last year’s best new series Ex Machina, for only $9.95. Even though I’ve got all the issues, I may still pick this one up.

God of War, a game coming out in March 2005 for PS2 looks incredible. In the game, your goal, basically, is to kill Ares, the Greek God of War. Along the way you fight Medusa, Cyclops and Hydra. Greek Mythology goodness!

Radio Rant

Since I’ve recently gone through 2 CD players in my car [the 10 disc changer died last year and the Discman died; both for no explainable reason], something I realized a few years ago really came to light – Radio in the NYC/NY area pretty much sucks donkey balls. I realize my favorite genre of music is not the most popular anymore (Metal & Hard Rock). However, living in the largest metropolitan area, one would think finding a form of music, that while not the MOST popular, still supports a very loyal and strong fanbase, wouldn’t be too difficult.

Listening to good and new metal/hard rock in NJ/NY area on the radio is more often than not, a challenge. The biggest rock station K-Rock plays Howard in the morning and follows him with what amounts to throwing shit against the wall and seeing what sticks. For the most part, their programming is a mix of stuff that was popular around 1994, the Beastie Boys, Staind, Cypress Hill and Eminem. It was getting to the point that 2-3 out of the 5 weekdays, they were playing the same exact song right after Howard went off the air. Some days it seems like they cycle the same bands through each hour, with different songs – at least once an hour they’d play Beastie Boys, Linkin Park, or the over-rated Red Hot Chili Peppers. The station promotes Metallica, but rarely plays any Metallica songs from before the Black Album, which is the album that started the band's downward trend.

89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall’s Pirate Radio was pretty good in the past, though in recent years (January 2002 to be specific), they haven’t been playing as much pure metal since and modified their format from Metal to “Ecclectic Rock,” “something that's a better fit for the Jesuit university's community image.” Bullshit, this station was THE place to hear good hard rock/metal for years and started the career of a handful of DJs. For the longest time this was the only place to hear Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Shadows Fall, Iced Earth, Dream Theater and similar bands. They now mostly play winy-sounding punkish crap which ALL sounds pretty much the same.

105.5 WDHA & 95.9 WRAT are probably on the whole, the most listenable stations around these parts. Sister stations, DHA is out of Morristown, NJ and the RAT is out of Belmar, NJ, but they format is pretty much the same. DHA plays a bit more of the classic rock and the RAT plays a bit more of the current hard rock. I guess my only real complaint about DHA, which I listen to at work since I work in Morristown, is they play TOO much classic stuff-as if they are required to meet a quota of playing the Pretenders, the Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd at least once an hour. DHA seems to love Nickelback, too, but we all have our faults. DHA & the RAT always promote local shows and play the bands in the time surrounding their concert – they played a good amount of Godsmack when Godsmack was at Starland, they played Iron Maiden when Maiden was in NYC last year and in general, often have a good mix of stuff. DHA has good days where they play new Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Godsmack, Black Sabbath and too many crappy days of the Pretenders, the Allmans, Nickleback, Staind and Steve Miller. And for the request shows, can we please put a ban on songs by Steve Miller, Jet, The Who's “Who are You,” or any songs that also double as commercials and/or TV theme songs?

Without a doubt, though, the best source on the radio for GREAT Hard Rock and Metal is Eddie Trunk’s syndicated Friday Night Rocks, played on the local classic rock station Q104.3. Eddie always has great guests, like Dave Mustaine, Tony Iommi and Judas Priest. Eddie’s show right after Dimebag Darrell was shot was very classy as a lot of musicians called in to share their thoughts. His show almost always features new artists, up and coming artists and classic metal artists. He’s also syndicated on XM radio, and is often seen on VH1 Classics. I just wish he had a regular week-day show. Then again if he did, I may not be ranting about this subject right now.

Aside from Eddie Trunk the other place I’ve found and heard good music is Music Choice: Metal on digital cable. I heard Ra for the first time there and a good amount of Shadows Fall and Atreyu on their metal station too. If I’m on the computer or reading, I’ll often flip to that channel for background music.

Music isn’t the only thing on the radio, there’s a lot of talk. Sports Radio, thanks to 1050 WEPN is probably what I’ve been listening to the most in the car, that is for the 1/3 of my car ride the station actually comes in. They have a real shitty signal. For a radio station owned by one of the largest media conglomerates (ABC/ESPN/DISNEY) you’d think they would have a stronger signal for a sports radio station that’s trying to compete in the biggest radio market in the country, NYC, against, arguably the biggest sports radio station in the country, WFAN. I live in central Jersey and drive to and from Northern NJ everyday for work and the signal rarely comes in a listenable consistent way, and most often it is very shoddy and all static. As for the actual content, again when it is listenable, Mike and Mike in the morning have a good rapport and I really enjoy the Michael Kay show as well. I’m glad Kay is now on the drive home, I can’t stand Fatso and Mush-mouth (Mike and the Mad Dog), though I do like Sid Rosenberg from the Fan. Hell, about a year and half ago, I won a pass to sit in on Sid and Jody Mac’s daytime show in WFAN. I liked Sid back when he was a sports guy on WNEW, but since he’s on during the day and AM doesn’t come in my office at all, I don’t get to listen to him.

Which all brings me to WNEW, the onetime home of Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez. O&A are now on XM, which I plan on getting when I get a new car. They always had me glued to the radio and are a big reason why I’m a huge fan of Godsmack and Disturbed, those two always talked up the band and played parts of their songs during the breaks. O&A were and probably still are everything Howard Stern wishes he could be, in terms of relevance and humor. I still like Howard, but O&A really took that type of talk/entertainment radio to the next level

Ron and Fez were just as good and had me laughing out loud, sometimes, more often than O&A. R&F did their comedy pyramid, listeners would call in, to try and play along with the comedy theme, it was like a huge circle of friends where everybody tried to ridicule each other. Ron and Fez were pulled from WNEW the day after the Superbowl in 2003, I remember specifically because Fez is a huge Tampa Bay fan and I really wanted to hear his reaction to Tampa Bay winning. I was even a Big ASS Cardholder, Fortunately for Washington D.C. listeners, they are on WJFK, and I don’t know that they’ll be back anywhere in NYC/NJ. WNEW is also where Eddie Trunk started Friday Night Rocks, and eventually he went on to do Saturday Night Rocks. Hell, the whole Station was like one big group friends you could sit back and drink a few beers with, as they appeared on each other's shows very often.

I suppose I've bitched and moaned enough today.

Sith!

Pretty, ain't it? Hits the stands in May. Here is the reluanched web page of the author:
http://mattstover.blogspot.com/

I’ve had this goddamned cold for almost two-and-a-half weeks, and to quote Indiana from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, “I’ve got the sniffles!” Started taking some Cold-Eeze, which is helping, but not as much as I’d like.

I knew, as is almost always the case when I compile any kind of list, there would be something I was bound to forget. Two additional books I’m looking forward to this year by E.E. Knight are two more books in his Tales of the Vampire Earth: Tale of the Thunderbolt (03/05) and Valentine Rising (12/05). I mentioned Mr. Knight and how I enjoyed his work in a post back in December.

Things are always evolving over at SFFWorld, we are hosting official author forums for the following FSF writers:
Alison Croggon a well respected writer already published to a good deal of acclaim in the UK and Australia, she makes her US debut with Naming: The First Book of Pellinor in May
Gary Wassner, author of the GemQuest trilogy, out next month from Windstorm
Kevin Radthorne author of the Road to Kotaishi
Richard Tuttle
Samit Basu, a respected author published by Penguin India
R. Scott Bakker, author of The Darkness that Comes Before and The Warrior-Prophet
Steve Savile, runner-up for the British Fantasy Award and was included in the 2003 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future anthology

And oh yeah, how could I forget? We are also hosting the official forums of Matthew Stover, author of the novelization of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Matt, thanks to Gabe, has also begun blogging again, at what amounts to his official Web site: http://mattstover.blogspot.com/ Matt is the author of, easily, two of my top 10, and maybe my top 5 favorite novels of all time: Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle.

Muppet Terror

Current Terror Alert Level

From Scott, because who really doesn't love Muppets?

Here's the list of books I hope to get/read from this year's releases. Hell, if I get to at least half of them, I'll be happy. I usually play catch-up and read stuff from previous years and manage not to get to all of the current year's releases

Justina Robson Natural History (01/05)

Matthew Stover's Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (04/05)
Karin Lowachee Cagebird (04/05)

John Marco Sword of Angels (05/05)
Robert E. Howard Bran Mak Morn: The Last King [reprint] (05/05)

Michael Moorcock The White Wolf's Son (6/05)
Dan Simmons Olympos (06/05)
James Barclay The Cry of the Newborn(08/05)
Greg Keyes The Blood Knight (08/05)
Jacqueline Carey Godslayer (8/05)
Jeffrey Ford's The Girl in the Glass (08/05)
Christopher Paolini Eldest (08/05)
Gene Wolfe Starwater Strains (08/05)

Robin Hobb Shaman's Crossing (9/05)
Philip Pullman The Scarecrow and his Servant (09/05)

R. Scott Bakker The Thousandfold Thought (10/05)

Karen Traviss The World Before (11/05)

Matthew Stover Caine Black Knife (hopefully late '05)
George R. R. Martin A Feast for Crows (??/??)