Books for 2.7.2007

    Content is king, as we all know, and I need to get cracking on that.  I’m going to mix in a weekly comics review or two;  I do tend to hit the shop pretty regularly on Wednesdays.  My comics habit has settled into a pretty steady routine: I tend to read a lot of Marvel/DC straight-up superheroics, some of the big guns at Vertigo, and the occasional Image title, and I like to mix it all up with the occasional Optic Nerve, Stray Bullets, etc.

The American Way TPB- John Ridley, Georges Jeanty (Wildstorm/DC)

I’ve been hearing a lot on the blogosphere about this, with many going so far as to say it’s the best book of 2006.  While I won’t go quite that far, I will say it’s a damn fine read, with some very nice pencils by Georges Jeanty.  It gets a bit bogged down by monologues and I had some issues with the pacing, but it’s a very entertaining book from top to bottom.

United States of America, 1961:  The Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the cultural divide between the north and the south…  Societal unrest is plaguing the nation, and things look to be getting much worse before they get better.  In order to get a grip on things and have some hope to steer the nation, the government turns to superheroes to give the people hope and restore a belief the U.S.A., but when the race card gets dealt, all bets are off.

It’s an interesting enough idea, and I like how it’s presented in a fairly realistic, modern take, but I really felt the concepts and the characterization were a little hurt by the lack of room, as there’s a big story held in these 8 issues and a few interesting bits that could use a little more stage time.  Actually, my only real complaints are probably issues brought about by the format; this is certainly a book that was written for the 22-page floppy.  Each chapter is a big, meaty slab of comics, and it takes a bit to get back into actually reading a book like this after having enjoyed the “decompressed comics” trend for so long.

I should have some more impressions soon…

Let me begin by clarifying: I want a PS3, and I really want it to not suck; the PS2 didn’t suck. I’m not at all anti-Sony, I’m pro-games.

Exhibit 1- The PSP

I drank the Kool-Aid and got one at midnight the day it came out, but it took me something like 6 months before I would admit that it was a shiny black $250 turd. Might as well call the damn thing Portland, ’cause 97% of the games are shitty ports of stuff you can play elsewhere.

Exhibit 2- Blu-ray

Can’t really blame Sony too much for this one, as they have a history of trying to shove proprietary (and quickly obsolete) media down your throat. I hate saying shit like this, but digital distribution is the future. You’ll see it when the next iPod rips off Zune’s wireless file sharing.

Exhibit 3- http://www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com/blog

If you look the domain up on register.com, you’ll see it belongs to the Zipatone Co., a St. Louis, MO based marketing company. It would appear Sony went and hired someone to try and make people care about their stupid shit, and in the process really annoyed the piss out of me. WTF? Honestly though, I don’t mind advertising or viral marketing or any of that. People gotta make a buck somehow, but that shit’s just insulting.

(I do realize that by sharing the link and expecting people to click on it, I’m doing exactly what these assholes want me to do. I say fuck ‘em. You can’t get rid of a tumor without knowing where to cut.)

i’m SUCH a notepad fetishist

I lucked out at the beginning of the semester and picked up some 4 different Moleskine notebooks… Haven’t really used them, of course, but I got ‘em good and cheap. I’ve always had this notion of finding myself at some cafe or diner, sipping on some coffee and composing some brilliant thought or another… Gotta have the notebook to fit, right?

So I’m at Barnes & Noble about a week ago, and I’m nearly struck blind…

They’re beautiful, they’re inexpensive, and they’re damn neat!!  Maybe I’ll get my filthy little mitts on one and actually put it to good use.

i hate other people

i don’t like “making friends.” i’ve got friends, i don’t need anymore. don’t mean to be anti-social or anything; i just don’t tend to like other people. what, pray tell, is wrong with that?

that song kinda got annoying after a while…

so the Gears of War commerical might have had something to do with that cover of “Mad World” (made famous by “Donnie Darko”) reaching #1 on the iTunes chart…  two things:

1.) why?  that song’s a little painful to listen to after about 3 seconds

2.) how much longer until the iTunes charts replace Billboard?  a month?  two?