SUNDAY SHUFFLE #127

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I am rooting for the Cardinals today but I won't be upset if the Steelers win; I've got a lot of respect for them. Plus, we get Bruce and the E Street Band at halftime and an hour-long episode of The Office afterwards. I will be feasting on a #9 from Jimmy John's, chips, and a Super Bowl sundae for dessert. Yum!

1. Codes, Runes, Dunes/Portastatic (5)
2. The Stand Ins, One/Okkervil River (7)
3. Border Guards/The Rosebuds (6)
4. This Old Chase/The Ladybug Transistor (4)
5. Aging Faces/Losing Places/Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew (6)
6. Angeles/Elliott Smith (20)
7. Fishing Boat Song/M. Ward (8)
8. Outta My Head/M. Ward (12)
9. Seashell Tale/M. Ward (12)
10. Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape)/Destroyer (7)

Guess it's M. Ward's day - just over 2 weeks until his new album, Hold Time!

UPCOMING

One of the best parts about a new year is the anticipation for all the new music and books and comics and TV and movies that will be coming out. 2009 is no exception.

There are 5 albums coming out in the near future that I am looking forward to...

A.C. Newman/Get Guilty (Jan. 20)
Andrew Bird/Noble Beast (Jan. 20)
Bruce Springsteen/Workin' On A Dream (Jan. 27)
M. Ward/Hold Time (Feb. 17)
Neko Case/Middle Cyclones (Mar. 3)

You can go here to watch the new video for the amazing title track from M. Ward's album.

The next couple months also bring the following books...

Chris Roberson/End of the Century
T.C. Boyle/The Women
Colson Whitehead/Sag Harbor

The new Entertainment Weekly is all about the big 2009 movies. Can we say...

Watchmen?
X-Men Origins: Wolverine?
Up?
Public Enemies?
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?
Where the Wild Things Are?

I'm not sure about all the comics coming down the pike (did Wizard even do a 2009 preview issue?) but I know some I'm anticipating...

The last three issues of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds
The (hopefully) continuing adventures of the original Legion
Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver on Flash: Rebirth
Scott Pilgrim Vol. 5!
A collection of the second season of Casanova? (please?)

And then there's TV, where the following shows all return soon...

Scrubs (it was back this week with 2 very good episodes)
Flight of the Conchords
Battlestar Galactica
Lost
Big Love

Plus, the debut of Dollhouse.

You know what's even better? All the stuff I don't even know about and that will be new to me and blow me away. Bring it, 2009.

PRE-COLLEGIATE PILE

As I've mentioned a few times, I am starting college again this fall. Well, "this fall" is now tomorrow and my first College Algebra class is less than 20 hours away; my first Spanish I class follows about 24 hours after College Algebra finishes. I am already working my new job in the school system and this will be the first full week of school. Luckily, I still have two more weeks before I add in another 6 1/2 hours of teaching swimming lessons at the YMCA. I'm not sure how all this will affect my pop culture intake but I thought I'd jot down some things I still need to read and/or watch, as much to remind myself as anything.

I still have the last 2 books in the Company series to read, Gods and Pawns and The Sons of Heaven. I want to read Lord Tophet and I have Sideways in Crime, an anthology of alternate history crime stories, on my shelf. Coming up in a few months, there will be 4 books from Jeffrey Ford available that I've never read, plus one from Kelly Link. Beyond that, there are tons of books I want to read.

I have 3 trade paperbacks lined up to read - JLA Presents: Aztek the Ultimate Man, Astro City: The Dark Age, and Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection. I still have 2 trades of The Walking Dead sitting in my file at the comics shop and the latest Invincible volume is on the shelves as well. Of course, new single issues keep coming out too and I've demonstrated I can't fully quit those.

The ever-present drawer of SF magazines holds 7 issues at the moment - 3 of Asimov's and 4 of F&SF (and one of those is a double issue). I also have 3 issues of EW that I haven't gone through, plus parts of another, and a new one should arrive in the mail tomorrow. Oh, there's a new issue of Spin too but I usually just flip through those.

What's on the DVD shelves that I haven't gone through? Well, Grant and I are about 2/3 of the way through Superman Animated Season 3 and then we have 2 volumes of Batman Animated and The Simpsons Season 10. I have two seasons of The Venture Bros. and The Darjeeling Limited, not to mention stuff like 30 Rock Season 1 that I've seen most of as it aired but haven't looked at on DVD.

I've got a number of TV shows on the DVR - all 7 episodes of Generation Kill and one each of The Middleman, Californication, Hard Knocks: The Dallas Cowboys, Burn Notice, and Mad Men. And of course, the new fall TV season gets underway very soon.

So, there's plenty to keep me busy in my shrinking spare time and that's not including spending time with my family, being social, and keeping up with my own music. Still, I'm very much looking forward to getting into all of it.

DV DAYS

Today I finally worked my way through all of G4's coverage of this year's Comic-Con. Kinda fun to look at all the craziness without having to be in the middle of it..not that I've ever been to Comic-Con. Heck, it's been a lot of years since I've been to Wizard World Chicago but maybe I'll take Grant next summer. He might be into it.

Anyway, I still have lots of stuff on my DVR that I need to get to...and watching baseball doesn't help much in getting it watched. Not giving up watching the Sox and Cubs, though. No way.

Here's what I still need to watch...

3 episodes of Generation Kill (new mini-series from David Simon)
2 episodes of The Middleman (one of which is started)
2 episodes of Burn Notice (with a new one coming tomorrow night)
2 episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Billie Piper!)
1 episode of Mad Men (Season 2 premiere!)
1 episode of Venture Bros. (how did I ever live without this show?)
1 episode of Doctor Who (the penultimate ep of Season 4)

In other news, Grant and I have started on Superman Season 3 and have managed to watch the first 6 episodes. That's faster than we've watched anything in a while. Two really good two-parters, both full of Kirby creations, and two so-so single eps. A commentary and a featurette and then we're on to disc 2!

SUMMER PROJECT UPDATE

Project #1: Start writing a novel
Progress: None whatsoever

Project #2: Work towards recording an EP
Progress: I have written one new song in the last few weeks

Project #3: Reread all 9 volumes of Y: The Last Man in preparation for the 10th and final volume
Progress: Completed, along with reading the last volume (it was fantastic!)

Project #4: Start my wife watching Battlestar Galactica
Progress: We are currently a few episodes into the 2nd season; she is completely hooked

RESTLESS

I've been very restless the last week or so. Part of it is that I'm figuring a new course for myself and I'm waiting on some information. Part of it is that I'm not working much at all and that disconnects me from myself. Plus, when I am working it's not necessarily teaching my own classes. I don't know. Just feeling restless and unsettled in general and today in specific. So what did I do with myself?

I watched most of the U.S. Open playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. That's weird, because I very rarely watch golf and never for that long. I guess the intrigue with Tiger's knee and all made me interested. It was a really good match too - lots of high drama and great shots.

I also played golf on the Wii. Twice. I played all 9 holes both time and was horrible the first time, with a +13. The second time was much much better, as I was at a -3 through 6 holes. Then I got cocky on the 7th and ended up at +2 overall, which is still my personal best.

Jill and I also bowled on the Wii tonight and I beat her with a 174...somewhere in there. Not bad. Our friend got one for a Father's Day gift yesterday and he and his wife were talking about their Wii Fit scores. Jill and I had never done that, so we did. Jill's fit age was 50; mine was 38. The baseball did me in too, as I only hit one home run. I'll try it again some time.

In between all my game playing and sports watching, I managed to read 212 pages of the book I started this morning - Superpowers by David J. Schwartz. Obviously, it has kept me turning the pages and I'll be surprised if I don't finish it tomorrow (just over 160 pages to go).

I did watch some TV besides sports, diving into the DVR to try and catch up. I watched the Agatha Christie-centric episode of Doctor Who from Friday (fun stuff), about 10 minutes of the debut episode of Swingtown (which I promptly deleted along with the second episode), and then the second episode from the current season of The Venture Bros. (Dr. Henry Killinger is sheer brilliance!).

And there's my Monday.

MORE SHORTS/PROJECTS

I actually wore shorts on Thursday, which was nice. Of course, I spend my days in a bathing suit so I guess it's not the biggest deal in the world. Yesterday it was in the low 80s and we sweltered in Chicago while seeing a show at Comedy Sportz (drama club field trip); today it's cooler with tomorrow and the next few days set to be even worse. There's even talk of snow. Not unprecedented around here (it snowed the day of my senior prom, which was early May) but still rare.

To completely change the subject, you can now hear two songs of Aimee Mann's upcoming album, @#%&*! Smilers, here. It comes out June 10 and I can't wait.

The season finale of Torchwood was fantastic and completely heartbreaking on a variety of levels. I'm curious as to where they'll go from here. I bet Martha Jones will be back.

Thanks to this week's return of Lost (hello again, smoke monster), Thursday night now features 2 great hours of TV, preceeded by a solid hour (My Name Is Earl is definitely the weakest link, even though Scrubs isn't as strong as it used to be). Oh, the 2 hours is The Office and 30 Rock and Lost. All had really really good episodes this week. And then to get new eps of Battlestar Galactica the next night? I love you, TV.

I was reading through the Summer Movie Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly and realized I had another project to undertake. We are about 3 1/2 weeks away from the opening of the new Indiana Jones movie and I still need to show the first three to my son. Got to get on that.

DOWN TO ONE

I've managed to hack the DVR back down to my being only one week behind again. Of course, it helps that In Treatment ending a couple weeks ago. However, I captured the last 3 episodes of the 3rd season of Doctor Who yesterday; I'd like to watch them again before I start on the new season (the first ep of which is already recorded) now that I know more about the show and Torchwood.

Speaking of Torchwood, I'm down to only one episode left on the DVR and it's last night's season finale. Today I watched last week's penultimate episode and it was a really good one. A bomb trapped four members of the team and as they were dug out, we saw how they became involved with the outfit. Very interesting. And the finale promises to be a humdinger too.

I also have the final episode of the first season of Mad Men sitting on the DVR. Not sure why I didn't tune into the series when it originally aired but I'm glad AMC ran it again. Looking forward to seeing how things ended so I can start getting excited about the upcoming 2nd season.

I think there's only one remaining episode of Human Giant yet to air as well; I still have one on the DVR.

The final episode of John Adams aired tonight, which means I still have 2 to watch. That's been a very good series as well and I absolutely love the musical theme.

That about covers what I have left to watch...except for the Knight Rider movie from February. We'll get around to it some day...

Oh, and I now have 3 eps of Battlestar Galactica, which I'm saving until I can get Jill through all the DVDs. I know she'll like the show and you all should be watching it too. I looooved Friday's episode and can't wait until next week...

FRAKKIN' SHADOWS

I just finished reading The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford, my 14th book of the year. The novel is an expansion of his novella "Botch Town," which was original to his last story collection, The Empire of Ice Cream. It is very very good and I spent 8 days reading it because I didn't want it to be over, even though I'd read a good chunk of it before. Ford is the real deal and a writer who everyone should be reading; he is adept at both the novel and shorter forms. This year is a big Ford year too, as we will get his third story collection and reissues of a three novel series from Golden Gryphon this fall. Five Ford books in one year that I haven't read? Wow.

I mentioned last week that it took the impending 4th season start of Battlestar Galactica to get me to finally watch Battlestar Galactica: Razor. It wasn't set between the 3rd and 4th seasons but backed up a bit to tell more of the story of the Pegasus, while adding in some teasers and depth for the final season. I liked it and had some fun looking at some of the extras (though not all of them yet).

Friday night was the season premiere and I was all set to watch...but ended up going out to see some friends play. I got half of the episode watched before work Saturday morning and then jumped right back into when I got home. Soooo good. So good. I cannot wait for more. I also saved the ep on the DVR because I want to start Jill on the show and she's willing. Not sure when we'll start but she says we don't have to wait for the summer. Yay.

SING IT, MIKE

I've decided to discontinue my monthly roundups. Fuck the numbers, though I will still keep track of my book totals. Hell, I've been doing that since 2001.

I started on a book this evening, having left the Mar. 2008 Asimov's at work. Twice. Ah well, I'll get back to it at some point. Anyway, I'm now reading The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford. Ford is a writer everyone should be reading.

Picked up the new REM album today. I was a little apprehensive about it, what with all the praise it's been getting. Sometimes it just seems like critics get together and all decide whether to celebrate a "rebirth" or to keep trashing a band regardless of content. I've only listened once but it sounded pretty good - love hearing those Mike Mills harmonies!

JSA Presents: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Vol.. 1 didn't hold up quite as well as I'd remembered it, alas. It was an impulse purchase - last thing spotted, really. Ah well, can't win them all. On the plus side, I dug the head trip that was Casanova: Luxuria - twins, alternate worlds, futuristic aborigines, robots, multiple acronymned organizations...hard to beat. Well played, Fraction.

How excited am I getting for the return of Battlestar Galactica? Enough to finally watch BSG: Razor! Should happen tomorrow...

SMASHING

Last Thursday Grant finally had enough money to buy Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. He's been playing it a lot, obviously, but Jill and I have gotten in the act too. Man, it is a ton of fun. You can fight on a variety of worlds from Nintendo games and as a wide variety of characters. You get to punch and use lightsabers and flip and all sorts of cool things as you try and knock out the other players. Last night I dominated as Mario, cutting way down on getting knocked off and upping my kill power. I love this game.

Yesterday I got a score of 8919 on computer solitaire, which is easily the highest score I've ever reached. I should probably retire, especially since I could be doing more productive things than playing it.

I spent a couple days last week reading through Justice Society of America: The Next Age, which collects the first 4 issues of the relaunched and ongoing series. I read these as they came out last year and liked them enough to get them in a collected edition. Geoff Johns is dealing with the legacy of the JSA, bringing in new characters and tieing into the past. It's the kind of DC comic that I go for and would love to write. Maybe someday.

I watched a cool Doctor Who two-parter ("Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood") over the weekend, breaking my self-imposed rule of watching show off the DVR in chronological order. The Doctor is being hunted by the family and flees to 1913 to hide, becoming fully human in the process. The aliens track him and Martha (masquerading as a servant) isn't sure what to do. It's a look at what it means to be human and what the Doctor sacrifices by being who he is. Really great work by the cast and writer Paul Cornell. This now brings me back to where I came in on the series, as "Blink" airs this coming Saturday. I'll probably watch the end of the third season again, especially now having seen just about the entire series (I missed maybe an ep or two somewhere along the line). Season 4 starts airing in April too, I think.

Speaking of series starting in April, I need to watch Battlestar Galactica: Razor before the final season starts on April 4. Frak yeah. Oh, you can find the cast's appearance on David Letterman doing a Top Ten list on You Tube...in character!

I also watched the first part of HBO's John Adams mini-series yesterday and found it thoroughly engrossing - both for the story and the performance of Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney and John and Abigail. Part two takes John to Philadelphia for the first Contintenal Congress and part three is also on the DVR.

Meanwhile, we're heading to Columbus for a few days tomorrow to visit Jill's dad and his wife. It will be nice to get away for a few days!

BRACKETLESS

I'm not filling out a bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament this year. I just haven't watched enough college basketball this year to be that informed other than all the top teams. And while I will watch some of the tournament, the next three days will be fairly busy and we will be away next week for a few days. So, I have no predictions...just hope to see a couple good games.

Last night I finished My Revolutions by Hari Kunzru. It's about a man with a past as a violent revloutionary and that past is now catching up to him. He's been living under a different name for many years and has built a life until a visit by somebody else from that past reappears. The novel is mainly told in flashback, though the time periods keep weaving in and out. There's a lot of revolutionary jargon and theory and you can see how people were pushed past their moral codes to be involved in bombings and auto theft and so on. I thought it was a solid book and I got through it in three days, so it was definitely readable.

I had an e-mail this morning letting me know that a book I ordered from B&N has arrived and I need to find a baseball book to read before the season starts (I think it will be one Tim Kurkjian put out last year). Before that, I'm going to read some short fiction and the last remaining trade. I'm still over a week behind on the DVR too.

QUICK

I got up this morning and checked the old e-mail inbox as usual. I had a message from The Raconteurs, explaining that their new album, Consolers Of The Lonely, will be out next week. Next week! They just finished the album the other week and wanted to get it out as soon as possible and so that everyone could hear it at once. It's a cool idea and I am really looking forward to hearing it...and how awesome is it I don't have to wait very long?

Last night I read 70 pages of My Revolutions, a full quarter of the book. I should easily be able to finish by the time it's due at the library on Friday. I'm enjoying it so far too.

I managed to watch Torchwood (from 3/8) yesterday but that was all. Right now, the DVR is 26% full. Yikes. By the way, I gave up keeping track of TV shows last week. It just got to be too much to sustain and I couldn't make myself care that much. I also gave on the DVD tally as well, though I could reconstruct that more easily - I've only watched two more episodes of The Simpsons Season 9.

The good news is that it will be a relatively short day at work today. I only have to go in a teach my classes during the day; I put in a lot of supervisor hours the last two weeks so my boss doesn't want me to come back tonight. I can live with that. It's a dreary day out too, which is conducive to reading and catching up on my TV watching.

21%

That's how full the DVR is right now. Granted, not all of it contains shows I need to watch but most of it is mine. I still have Knight Rider from more than a month ago. I'm more than a week behind on my regular shows too and now that new episodes are starting to come back (new How I Met Your Mother tonight!), chances are I'll only fall further behind. The NCAA basketball tournament will suck up quite a bit of time at the end of the week too.

I have a book out from the library that's due Friday and I've already renewed it once. My Revolutions is only 280 pages long, so do I start it today and race through it? Do I try to renew it again? Do I just drop it off and get to it at some future time? I also ordered The Shadow Year at my local B&N, though that won't be in until later this week at the earliest.

I have three issues each of Asimov's and F&SF sitting around waiting to be read. I have the last of the four trades I bought at the comics sale still unopened. And to top it all off, I plan on using up all of my current eMusic downloads in the next few days - a couple new albums drop tomorrow, the rest has been out, and my numbers add up beautifully.

So, I'll be making quick comments on stuff or I'll just be reading and watching and listening without saying much. Either way, I hope you enjoy your week.

ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS, AND THE LONG MIDDLE

A week ago HBO aired the final episode of The Wire, one of the best TV shows ever produced. While I'm sorry to see it go, I am glad that we got 60 episodes of the series. That's a lot more than many series get, many lesser series even. The finale was 90 minutes long and wrapped things up as much as you could wrap them up. Redemption for some, release for others. We checked in with all of the main players from the start of the series and many since then. It's hard to sum up the show. I do look forward to the day when I can sit down and watch the whole of the series...most likely it will be when I make my wife watch the show. Well done, David Simon and company. Well done.

Today I finished a new novel by a writer who worked on The Wire over the last few seasons, Richard Price. He's someone I've always meant to get around to reading and took advantage of the release of Lush Life to do so. It centers around a robbery-turned-murder and what that does to all the people involved - perpetrators, victims, cops, families, and more. It has a sprawling cast and it told from many viewpoints. It's full of humanity and it feels real. I liked it a lot.

Last Sunday I finished another novel, The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes. Set in the Victorian era, it features a man who lives his life backwards, secret societies, the reanimated corpse of Coleridge, and much more. It's also a lot of fun.

I recently reread Green Lantern: Rebirth (though this time in collected form), a mini-series from 2005 that featured the return of Hal Jordan to the role of Green Lantern. Why now? Well, the current storyline in the ongoing series has been getting high praise and the collected editions of the series are now starting to come out in paperback, so I thought it was time to reacquaint myself. Geoff Johns did a great job creating a reason for what happened to Hal over the years - his fall from grace and murderous nature than was at odds with his previous character - and brought him back in a story full of great moments. Of course, Ethan Van Sciver's art doesn't hurt either. I'm looking forward to getting caught up on the series.

Today I read Powers Vol. 10: Cosmic, another volume in the ongoing series by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. Its release was delayed for a long time and during delays like that, you can forget what a good comic it is (and by "you" I mean people who read the series only in trade, like me). The most interesting development is that Christian Walker is given powers once again by taking up the mantel of Millennium, a group of intergalactic cops run by aliens (akin to Green Lantern, which made me laugh). His partner, Deena Pilgrim, isn't doing as well. The next trade in the series has been out for a while and will have to move up the to-be-read list (and to-be-bought list).

100

I watched my 100th episode of TV for 2008 this afternoon. What was the lucky show? Doctor Who, an episode titled "The Lazarus Experiment." Not the best ep of the series but still a solid one. It's the 8th episode of Doctor Who I've seen this year, which means 8% of my viewing this year has been Doctor Who. What leads the way? In Treatment is at 25%, followed by Biggest Loser at 10%, and The Wire with 9%. Huh. 52% of my TV on the year consists of episodes from 4 different shows.

Last night I also read 100 pages of The Somnambulist, my 10th book of the year (multiples of 10 everywhere!). It's a fairly quick read and is interesting so far (and yes, I've gone past 100 pages by now).

I still have money left on a $100 gift card to Barnes & Noble that I got for Christmas. Yes, I've been hoarding it. I went and bought Saturnalia by The Gutter Twins, which is Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli. The disc is moody and heavy and good. I still have about $35 left too!

CONSTANTS

Thursday's episode of Lost was one of the best the series has produced so far and that's saying something. "The Constant" focused on Desmond once again - as he and Sayid flew on a helicopter out to the boat he suddenly became unstuck in time and his consciousness was toggling back and forth between 1996 and 2004 (still the present day of the series). It was sharply written and edited with great performances and cool ideas and it made me wish I could rewatch all three seasons of the show right now (of course, I still don't have Season 3 on DVD). Thank goodness the writer's strike is over and we can get 8 more episodes of this season.

Another TV show I love is almost over. I've been watching The Wire "On Demand," where they have each new episode of the season up the Monday before it airs on HBO. The other day I got around to watching the penultimate episode (and 9th of the fifth, final season), "Late Editions," and I felt sadness. Sadness not only for the fates of characters in the show but the fact that the show will soon be gone. I've said it before and I'll say it again - The Wire is one of the best TV shows ever. Ever. If you've never seen it, do yourself and favor and rent or buy Season 1 and dive in. You won't regret it.

Comics are another constant in my life, as I've been a reader for the last 27 years or so, give or take. I've gone through periods of high involvement and periods of keeping myself at a remove. Right now, I'm in a period of not caring that I love them and love super-heroes. Why? I think the energy of this guy might have helped me remember how much I do care. Why do I mention this, other than to tie in with my post title? I bought a big stack of 11 comics this past Wednesday.

I still had some of my Christmas (and Valentine's) cash and why not go ahead and use it up two months later? I bought the new Action Comics, the fifth part of the story with the Legion of Super-Heroes. I bought the 100th issue of Nexus and the first issue of Kick-Ass. I grabbed JSA Classified, which started a storyline about Wildcat written by my friend B. Clay Moore, and the last 5 issues of Justice Society of America, which I've missed reading. Criminal relaunched with a new #1 and there was a new Astro City Special about Beautie. It was a lot of good reading and I loved having a big stack like that. Of course, I can't afford to do that on a regular basis but that makes this week all the more sweet.

This week also saw the release of a new DC animated movie, Justice League: The New Frontier, which is based on the 2004 mini-series by Darwyn Cooke. The movie retains his cartoony, clean line style and does a good job encapsulating the story in a mere 75 minutes. Yes, there was a lot that was cut out but the story still worked. Grant had never read the comic but he really enjoyed the movie. There are a bunch of extras to get to, as I bought the 2-disc deluxe edition (which came with a Green Lantern figure).

FEBRUARY ROUNDUP

There was an extra day to try and cram in as much pop culture as possible this year...and I spent last night not doing much of anything. Heck, I didn't even manage to get this post done. Ah well.

I read 4 books in February (The Dragons of Babel; Inside Straight; Like You'd Understand, Anyway; and Hunter's Run). I actually read those books in a 20 day period, from the 3rd to the 22nd. That brings my total on the year to 8, which keeps me on pace for 48 in 2008. Last February I only read one book and part of another, so I was much more productive this year.

I read 16 stories in February. The stories came from the Jan. 2008 issue of F&SF and Like You'd Understand, Anyway, a short story collection by Jim Shepard. I read 3 fewer stories this month and my year's total is 35. Last February, I read 22 stories, so I was a bit less productive this year.

I read 14 comics in February, of which only one was a trade (Captain America: Winter Soldier Vol. 1). This doubles my January reading and gives me 21 comics read on the year (5 trades). Last Febrauary I read 17 comics (2 trades and 1 OGN included), which isn't too much more than this year.

I bought 3 CDs and downloaded 5 more, for a total of 8 new CDs in February. I also downloaded two songs, both by Tokyo Police Club ("Your English Is Good" and b-side, "Swedes in Stockholm"). That brings my total on the year to 15 CDs and 3 songs. Last February I got 6 new CDs, so I'm at about the same pace.

I did not see any movies in the theater in February, which marks the 7th straight month that has happened. I didn't keep accurate track of when I saw movies until later in the year but I don't think I saw any last February (Zodiac was in March, wasn't it?).

I had 4 separate DVD viewings in February - 2 movies (The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and Justice League: The New Frontier) and 2 commentaries (from The Simpsons Season 9). That's about 1 viewing a week and brings my year's total to 14 viewings. I did not keep track of DVDs last year.

I watched 62 episodes of TV shows in Feburary (4 that ran for 2 hours; 34 that ran for 1 hour; and 24 that ran for a half hour). Again, I do not keep track of sports and news. Those episodes came from 12 different shows (Mad Men; Life on Mars; Friday Night Lights; Doctor Who; Torchwood; The Simpsons; Biggest Loser; Breaking Bad; Lost; The Wire; In Treatment; and Girls Next Door). The show I watched the most episodes of was In Treatment, with 21 (it helps that it's on 5 nights a week). I watched about 2 shows a day on average and more than doubled my January viewing. I did not keep track of TV last year.

A WALL

Yup, I hit a wall. A reading wall. Last Friday I finished reading Hunter's Run (a fine SF novel by Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham) and had started in on Stephen King's latest, Duma Key. That start was fine enough, not hooking me instantly but not turning me off either, but I had a problem. I was a bit burned out on books and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I had read 4 books in 20 days and had a bunch of books piled up and coming due at the library (you can't renew if other people have requested them, which was the case for a few I had) and just felt like I needed a break. So, I stopped the King and returned it along with a number of other things from my pile. That's what happens when you request a bunch of books that all come out at the same time. Anyway, I will get to most of those books...I just needed to feel a bit of control and to take a break.

What did I do instead? Well, I watched a lot of TV. The good news is that I got pretty well caught up on shows on the DVR. As of right now, I have only 6 things on the DVR that I haven't watched and there's a new ep of The Wire I could watch On Demand as well. Not bad, considering.

I also read one of the trades I'd picked up at the sale the previous weekend - Captain America: Winter Soldier Vol. 1. It collects the first 7 issues of the ongoing series (#35 comes out tomorrow, so I'm still over 2 years behind), of which I read the first when it came out. The creative team for this series is Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting (with flashbacks drawn by Michael Lark, who is also my second cousin) and they do a great job with a mix of action, history, and mysteries. I kinda wish I had bought more trades of the series at the sale. Oh well, I'll get to them at some point.

To add more to my stack of pop culture, I went out to Best Buy and used up the last of my gift cards and some of my cash still left for Christmas to pick up Justice League: The New Frontier and The Darjeeling Limited. I had planned on rereading Darwyn Cooke's DCU: The New Frontier series in preparation for the former but still haven't gotten to it. As for the latter, I didn't see it in theaters but I can't pass up a Wes Anderson movie.

That's about it.

OUT AND IN

Last week I actually got myself out into the world someplace other than work or a store. I decided that Valentine's Day would be a good one to get myself back into the open mic groove at Front Porch (it was also nice to have a night that wasn't freezing cold for it). It was the first time I played there this year and only my second time playing at all. I did "Dear Prospective Employer" (a love song of the desperate) and a slowed down version of "Let's Get Married Tonight" in which I whispered some of the choruses and seemed to go over well. It was also great seeing friends I hadn't seen in months and being a part of the community.

The next night I drove to a town about 45 miles away for a surprise birthday party for a friend. Tom is another musician and has been extremely generous to me ever since I started "The Year of 35." The party was in the top floor of an old building and was a cool space - old but big with a stage in front of windows looking over the county courthouse. A variety of people got up and jammed and I got in on the act too. I hopped up with my guitar and started playing music I've been working on; Graham joined on bongos and Tom eventually hopped up and played the fiddle with it. I liked the sound of the fiddle and think I'll pursue him playing it with me as I get the lyrics written and the song finished. We also played around with "Let's Get Married Tonight" - Tom on guitar and Graham on bass and Barry hopping up on drums partway through; "That's Okay" with Tom on fiddle; and "Dear Prospective Employer" with Tom on bass and Barry on drums. Lots of fun and Tom was definitely surprised.

On Saturday afternoon I went over to the comics shop for the semi-annual sale. I still had a bunch of cash leftover from Christmas plus some extra and thought it would be a good time to splurge. Of course, my usual intent is to take advantage of the sales but I tend to dither as to what I should buy and end up with nothing. This time I had a couple things in mind and then took a little time to decide what else I should get. I ended up with a combination of stuff I haven't read and stuff I read in singles format but no longer own and want to own. I got 4 trades for $53 and change, which is pretty good. I still have money left too!

Last week I managed to read 2 books - Inside Straight (a mosaic novel by many writers and edited by George R.R. Martin) and Like You'd Understand, Anyway (a story collection by Jim Shepard). The first is another in the "Wild Cards" series of which I read many books years and years ago but haven't read any of the more recent entries. That didn't matter as the book was very accessible with a wide variety of characters and a plot focusing on an American Idol-type show for super-heroes and political upheaval in the Egypt. I enjoyed it. The second book had a number of stories on men (or women) on futile quests...quests for yetis or an inland sea in Australia or love in outer space...as well as stories about modern alienation and more. Shepard is a strong writer and I definitely want to delve into his other work.

I'm also 50 pages into a new book but still have another 4 piled up from the library after that (and more on request).

I've watched a lot of TV shows on the DVR as well, though I'm still about a week behind. We did watch Lost, of course, which just gets more and more interesting. Yay for the writer's strike being over too!

There's more but we'll save it for another day and another post...