ROUND TRIP

I've gone a couple days without posting, so I thought I just do a longer post with some shorter mentions of what's been going on.

I spent a good portion of my day driving to O'Hare and back, as my parents returned from Europe this afternoon. Their flight got just before 4:30, so the Chicago traffic was very thick both going out to the airport and coming back in towards the city and then out to Indiana. Not much you can do about it and I really didn't mind - it just swallowed my afternoon and evening. But I'm happy to help out my parents and I got to listen to some good music on the way in - half of Magic Potion (The Black Keys); all of St. Elsewhere (Gnarls Barkley), Icky Thump (The White Stripes), and Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low (Sea Wolf); and a few tracks off Because of the Times (Kings of Leon).

Last weekend I finished reading Austin Grossman's debut novel, Soon I Will Be Invincible. It's a super-hero story told in a literary style and it is fantastic. I suggest you all read it. I already can't wait for his next novel, no matter what it's about.

Earlier in the week, I read the latest Invincible trade, My Favorite Martian (which is Vol. 8 of the series). The issues contained here dealt with some long-running plot points and saw some major changes in the love lives of many of the characters. This is a good super-hero comic.

Saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Wednesday and it was another good adaptation. Lots of plot points from the books that had to go by the wayside but I think they ways they weaved together the gist fo the story by using established characters and not overwhelming us with new ones was well done. Of course, this makes me even more excited to read the last book. Next Saturday isn't that far away!

I was stymied in my effort to hear the new Jason Isbell record that I spent a week building up to...it hasn't been made available on eMusic yet. Not sure how long it will take for it to show up either (I'm also awaiting the new Buffalo Tom). I did have new music to listen to, at least; I grabbed the new Spoon early Tuesday morning. Man, is it good.