Frustration and Stress . . what's a guy to do?

Ok . . I just couldn't do it anymore. I try my hardest to post these books in order and keep the posts as close to the dates of publication as possible. But between work . . the wife . . but don't tell her I said that . . and just my daily responsibilities, it's just been impossible for me to do the amount of posts in the way I want to do them. Plus I'm developing this really bad habit of spending way to much time perusing around E-Bay. Way to much time. So, here's what I'm going to do. I need to finish catching up my July books. Yes I know . . I'm a month behind. Anyways, as I was saying, I'm going to finish catching up my July books, and I'm going to skip even trying to get any posts in for August. Then for September I'm going to start doing the 2, or 3, issues that I'm behind of a title at the same time. Actually it might be more than that when it comes to books like Brightest Day or Generation Lost. But . . I'll figure it out as I go along. The main thing is I just want to get caught up, and get pictures and comments out there for the books that genuinely deserve as much exposure as they can get. That's the other thing . . there's some really good titles coming out right now. And if I try to rush through things and hurry, just to get caught up, I don't feel like I'd genuinely give them the praise that they deserve. There's some really talented people in the comic biz right now, and the stuff they're putting out is really top-notch. So anyways . . I'm not making excuses or anything. I guess, basically, I'm just apologizing for falling behind. I have a stack of books in front of me a foot high. And I really do want to get back on track. I'm going to do my very best to do just that in the coming weeks. All I can say is . . thanks for being patient.

Personal - Question?

I seem to be having a bit of a problem here, lately, and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing it. It's a minor inconvenience, but . . it still aggravates me just the same. During the blogging process, I hit spell-check several times. But I use the Google spell-check instead of the Blogger one. I like the way it works better. Personal preference, I guess. Anyways, it's never really been an issue before. I just hit spell-check, correct my mistakes, and then save. Then I turn off spell-check and go back to blogging. However, lately, after turning off spell-check, I can't bring up the Icon again in the blogger text. I can't really do anything. So then I have to go back to 'edit posts' and then back into the blog I'm working on so that I can continue. Like I said, I know it's a minor inconvenience, but . . it's really kind of a pain in the ass also. I was just wondering if anyone else was having a problem with this issue. I've submitted complaints and issues into the blogger help site before, but . . that's really an unsatisfying process as you never really hear back from anyone personally. I know. I know that they're probably swamping with issues and questions from their worldwide audience . . they can't address each one on a personal basis, but . . you don't really know that anythings been fixed until one day it just is. So . . I just wanted to complain a little bit, see if anyone else was experiencing the same thing, and make sure it wasn't just my computer acting 'funky'. It's not like it hasn't done that before. So . . anyone? Comments? Advice? Help?

New Music

Really, the only thing I get into more that comics . . well, maybe not more, but . . equally . . is music. Not for any reason, but I thought I'd share with you some of the recent music I'd acquired. I have 2 sources, BMG music club, and the library. I have 2 problems with BMG, though. First, and foremost, is their shipping practices. $2.67 per CD? So, if you get a double-disk of something, it's automatically $5.34. I think that's insane. But . . I guess they have to make money somewhere. But now, all of that's changing because they're switching thier name to Yourmusic.com. The main difference is, you join their club and all CD's are $6.99 with no shipping. It probably ends up being about the same costs but they've got rid of that monthly solicitation thing. My 2nd problem is, their new titles are always at a premium price and it seems like it takes them forever to discount. Also they don't seem to get the 'brand new' titles right away. So when something comes out that I really want, like Chickenfoot or the new Black Eyed Peas, I just have to suck it up and go to Best Buy. Luckily, those 2 were both $9.99 when they first came out. Anyways, my most recent CD's from BMG include Kiss (Love Gun, Dynasty and Destroyer) and Bon Jovi . . their first and One Wild Night. I had some free CD credits I had to use up before they switched over so I picked up some stuff I didn't have on CD. But in the end, they're never really free. In the last few months I've also gotten . . the Killers, Fall Out Boy, the Babys, Hinder, Hoobastank and Godsmack from them. My most recent trip to the library includes . . Gavin Rossdale, Tesla, Luscious Jackson, Heart, Counting Crows, AC/DC and David Bowie. And I know you're going to ask so, yes I do have an I-pod. But I don't do Rhapsody or Apple or anything. I do use them for ideas for music sometimes, or to sample songs. However I think 99 cents for a song is a bit steep. Plus, since my tastes are so eclectic, if I did that I'd be all over the place. Anyways, I just wanted to ramble for a little bit. Thanks for listening.

To know him was to love him . . .

I don't usually share to many personal things here . . it is the internet afterall, but . . someone I knew, and admired, and loved passed away last week. I don't want to remember him for how he was at the end, but rather for the things he accomplished and brought to this world in his lifetime. His life was rich with family and friends. Anyone who met him knew that he was a man of his word. He was stern, yet fun. He liked a good laugh as much as the rest of us. And he was loyal to those around him. In the last few years I didn't get to talk to him as much as I would've liked. But I shared pictures of family and friends and special occasions. Since he was confined mostly to his home, I'd like to think that I helped provide a window to the world. Anyone who has a loved one out there should tell them daily how much they care. Don't let it go for granted. Don't assume that they know that you're thinking about them. Make sure they know. And make sure they believe how much you really care. Don't let time or distance, and especially not work, stand in your way. The minutes and seconds are counting down constantly. Did you say everything you should have . . or wanted to? I know I didn't. And I really wish I had. I just wanted to let you know . . . I'll miss you.

Questions? - for everybody out there!

I don't usually like to just copy stuff out of the books, but . . I was intrigued by the DC Nation column this week. In it Dan Didio has some statements from various characters in the DC Universe. There's 10 statements and 10 characters. And you have to guess who goes with what. I'll list them for you, and then tell you my guesses, but . . I'd really be interested to see what everybody else thinks. So . . look them over and tell me what you think.

1. "I know he's not dead and I will find him, even if I have to make a deal with the devil himself."
2. "I will stop them all, no matter who they are or what they meant to me."
3. "I will step down, I will step aside, but I will never stop."
4. "He took away what mattered most; I am broken, but that can never slow me down."
5. "He has replaced me, but he will never be me."
6. "I will watch them closely, stay vigilant, make sure they do not repeat the mistakes of the past."
7. "I have seen the future and I will do everything I can to change it. Starting with my death."
8. "I will make sure Justice returns to Gotham and every criminal is behind bars."
9. "I need to make amends for all the damage I caused."
10. "I will be the greatest Batman ever."
See. Depending upon who said what, these can be some pretty big hints to future story-lines. So anyways, these are the 10 characters.
A. Diana Prince ____B. Tim Drake ____C. Roy Harper
D. Vic Stone ______E. Jason Todd ____F. John Stewart
G. Kate Spencer ___H. Wally West ____I. Michael Jon Carter
J. Clark Kent
Now, I really have no clue who said what. So I'm just taking a stab in the dark. But I'd be interested to know what other people think. So let me know if you agree with me or not. Here's what I think:
1-B _____2-F _____3-H _____4-A _____5-E
6-J _____7-I _____8-G _____9-D _____10-C
Good or bad . . . that's my guess. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know. I'm more interested in finding the right answers than necessarily being right or wrong.

Ok! I'm frustrated!

On your dashboard, under blogger buzz, there's a link you can go to to add a widget to your blog called I-Like. It's supposed to be a music widget. So you can add a soundtrack. Hey! What have I been talking about for the last couple of months? This sounds perfect to me. So I go in and start making my play-list. Actually, I was hoping that I could add music from my own computer, but . . . no such luck. You have to pick from the artists and songs that they have in their lists. But that's ok. There's an awful lot of stuff listed and I found something that I like under pretty much every artist that I looked up. Anyways, I put about 12 songs in my play-list. I didn't want to get to ambitious, and . . I wanted to go to the blog to make sure that it worked. Well . . I use a couple different browsers. Sometimes I use FireFox, and sometimes I use Safari. But mostly I just use internet explorer. But that one frustrates me sometimes so I'll just use the other ones out of spite. I guess. Anyways, I couldn't get the music application to play on either FireFox or Safari. FireFox told me I needed some plug-in, and Safari said I didn't have some mime setup. Well, I didn't want to go through all of that so I just went back to my good ol' internet explorer and viewed my blog that way. The good news? It worked. I was able to listen to the tracks. The bad news? Some of them were only 30 seconds or less. Which means if it was a live song . . . you barely got into the music before it cut off. But . . . I was ok with that. A few of the songs were full length so I just thought I'd go back and edit the list and take out the ones that didn't work. Yes it wasn't really my play-list . . I was only listing what would actually play, but . . hey . . at least it's something. It's still music. Right? Well when I went back to I-Like it didn't take me back to my play-list. It wanted to start me out all over again. So I thought, well I better go to my layout and see if I can delete the songs that way. That was a no-go! All you can do from the layout is delete the whole widget. But I thought . . that's ok. I'll just delete it and start over. 2 problems here. First it doesn't want to delete right. It gives you an error message. So it doesn't look like it's deleted even though it says it has been. Secondly, I went to posts and then back to layout and it showed it was gone. However, I rearranged a couple of things to give the play-list a more prominent placement, but now . . . now I can't move anything back. When I go to layout, everything seems to be locked it place. This sucks! All I thought was that I could share a couple of my favorite songs with the people that browse me, but no! It has to be a big ordeal and now I have to go to blogger and ask for help on how to fix my layout. What a pain in the posterior. So, my advice to you, if you look into the blogger buzz regularly, and you see this article . . . turn away! Turn away fast and don't be tempted by thought of creating your own soundtrack. It's not worth it, and now . . . now I've wasted about 45 minutes messing around with it. Just say NO!

Have you hugged someone today?

First of all, I want to say that this isn't a bitch-fest for me. I'm not writing to try to complain, or grovel, or to try to make anyone feel sorry for me. I've just had a lot of stuff go on in the last few weeks and I think, personally, it'll just help me sort it all out if I write it down. I took a vacation last week from work, and ended up spending most of it trying to help my parents move. I'm not complaining. I'm the oldest son, so . . that's what I do. It's just . . the whole situation was rather depressing. Not necessarily for my parents. They're more comfortable now. They're in a home that's better suited for their needs and mobility. This is about the 3rd or 4th time I've helped them move in the last . . . oh, 10 to 12 years. I actually get down about a couple of things. First is my mother's health. She's been fighting a blood disease for about 20, or so, years. It's a very expensive fight and my father has to do everything he can to help her, work with her and comfort her. She has a treatment about every 4 or 5 weeks. The week before she's very susceptible to illness and is especially weak. The week after . . . it takes her about 5 to 7 days to recover. So she gets about 2 weeks a month where she feels almost normal. Therefore whenever they move, they have less and less stuff. Their budget gets tighter every single year. Sometimes every single month. But . . they're fighting. Mom reads constantly, and dad does his best to stay busy. I think so things don't overwhelm him. Anyways, the part about this that gets me down is, obviously, I've seen the progression of their lives for many years now. Whenever I help them move, I'm reminded first how fleeting life really is. It's hard to watch your parents get old. And secondly how the acquisition of money or 'things' really just isn't that important. As we go through our lives we spend different periods of time attempting to acquire something. Whether it's days, weeks, months, years . . . we have a yearning for something that we think we need . . something that will make us whole . . or happier. But we never are more 'whole', or happier. At least not because of something that we 'got'. In fact most of the time when we reach those goals, we just move on to another one. That then becomes the 'important' one. Do you see where I'm going with this? Years from now, the things that we 'want' or strive for today . . . really don't mean diddly. They usually end up on the top shelf of some closet . . or a garage sale. The second thing that really gets me down about this whole thing is that I always wish I could do more for them. Time always seems to be the biggest factor. They live about 40 minutes from me and I do have to work for a living. Unfortunately my job is one that requires my attention pretty much 24/7. I can't leave work at work. I would if I could, but . . I can't. Between that and my wife's job, it's hard to find the time to even visit, let alone spending the day to help them with whatever. I usually try to call and talk to them everyday, but . . it just doesn't seem like enough. I also do whatever I can, whenever I can, but still . . it just doesn't seem like enough. And then of course the holiday season serves to stir everything up and bring all those feelings and emotions to the top of the glass. I'll be spending Christmas day with them. Part of that will be visiting, but then I'll feel like I need to do something. Even if it's just trying to help them organize or put away stuff from their recent move. The problem I have is . . it just never feels like enough. I know a lot of people have a lot of problems out there. Some worse, some not. I guess the point I'm trying to make is . . . spend some time with the people that are important to you. Spend some time, and let them know that they're important to you. Give 'em a hug. And enjoy the moments that you have together. The moments don't last, but . . the memories do. Make some . . while you can.

My thoughts on the previous year in comics - 2007

The thought process here may go all over the place, but I just wanted to express how I felt about the previous year in comics. I'm really not a TPB guy, and I don't buy that many hard-bound editions, so . . I'm sticking strictly to the comic medium. My first thoughts would be to pick my top 10. I know a lot of people probably won't agree with me, but, that's the beauty of this medium, I'm just expressing my opinion. First of all, I think the revamping of the big 2, with DC . . . Justice League, and Justice Society . . . turned them in to 2 of the best team books on the market right now. I think they're even better than some of the X-Men titles. Mainly because of the writing. Geoff Johns and Brad Meltzer have really brought a new quality to both of these books. So I'd have to say that they're #1 (JLA) and #2 (JSA) on my list. And, #3 on my list is going to have to go to another DC "group" book . . . the Teen Titans. They've been doing a revamping over the last couple of years, and I really like what the teams been doing. It's a fantastic bunch of characters, and I just think they get more and more interesting with every issue. With #4, I think I'd rather go towards a theme, than necessarily an individual character. And that theme is the All*Star line with DC. Right now there's only 2 books . . I'm not sure why, there were hints of more to come . . . but, the characters and the talent producing them are all incredible. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely on Superman, and Frank Miller and Jim Lee on Batman. They really are like 2 dream books. With #5 I'll have to go with the X-Men in general. There's such a plethora of characters and titles, that it's hard to single it down to just one. And I'm sure everybody has their own opinion and reason as to who they like the most. Personally, I think that the Exiles was one of their best titles. I've expounded on my reasoning for that numerous times, so if you're interested, take a look. #6 is going to have to go to a creator owned book. Yes it started out with WildStorm, but now it's an independent. And that book is The Boys. This book really pushes the boundaries of traditional super-hero lore. And it really opens up whole new areas of ideas and possibilities. Add to that, it's exceptionally written and drawn, and you truly have a fantastic book. I would have to give #7 to the Countdown series. And the reason I like this book so much is really divergent. First of all I have to respect the scope of the project they're attempting. They're putting out a weekly title, and have been doing so for about a year and a half now. Add to that the variety of characters and stories that they're following here. It's just incredible. And finally, the fact that what's happening here will impact the DC Universe for years to come. This isn't just a story to tell a story. When all's said and done, things will change. Characters will be different, and really the whole DC Universe, as a whole, will be in a different place. Heck, they're even ending the Fourth world saga. The scope of the ambition they have for this book, and it's various story-lines, is truly incredible. #8 is just one of my personal favorites . . Wolverine. I really like what they've done with this character, and the series, this year. I'm really happy to see the Wolverine Origins book every month. And both titles have done a superb job as far as writing and the quality of the art. I still have to say that I'm a person with whom story quality goes a lot farther than flashy art. It's great when you can get the 2 together. But, if I had to pick, to me, the story is much more important. But, it's a visual medium, so . . what am I gonna' do? Another personal favorite of mine is #9 . . . Ultimate Spider-man. I really enjoy the whole Ultimate line of comics. I think they're some of the best titles out there. But, out of them, Spider-man is my favorite. Plus, it really is the best written one. We get to see Peter when he was a teen-ager, and all the angst and indecision that goes with it. This book really draws you in and makes you care about the character. And with #10 I'm gonna' have to go with the Batman title. And this is mainly because of Grant Morrison's writing. There have been some fantastic story-lines over the year, and he's drawn in an incredible stable of artists. This book, all around, has really been a rock this year. Now, that's not to say that there's not a whole lot of other good books out there. Marvel is really stepping up it's game, I think, with the talent on it's books. They seem to be getting a lot more aggressive about going after certain writers or artists. Of course DC is doing that too. And both of them are really doing an impressive job with their imprint lines. Dynamite Entertainment seems to be coming on strong. And Avatar, and Brian Pulido are putting out an awful lot of Lady Death books. I just hope they can survive the market. And as always, the market is faced with rising fuel costs, rising wages and lower disposable incomes. Personally, I think, they somehow need to get the consumer to think of the books as an investment. I know all of us collectors do. But not everyone who buys them does. And I think, the best way to do that, especially since I'm sure book prices will be going up, is to lower print runs. That's not to say you can't have a second or third printing. But, there should be a finite number of issues available. Say 50,000 or 75,000. Then maybe another 30,000 on reprints. They'll end up selling the same amount of books, but the initial print will be more collectible. But, that's just my opinion. To me, this is a fantastic medium. I love the books, I love the characters, and I love the rush of going to my local shop every Wednesday to find my new treasures. I also enjoy collecting from E-bay. But, in the end, that's still not as enjoyable as going in to the shop, talking to the guy behind the counter, looking at all the new books spread out before me, and smelling that smell of paper and plastic. I still remember, when I was a kid, they built this new mall in town. Before that, I had to go to local drive-thru and buy books off of the comic rack. You know. That round aluminum spindly thing that rotated and squeaked. We had no comic shops at that time. Anyways, in the mall they had a book-shop. Cigar and tobacco store actually. But that was just on one side. The whole rest of the store was magazine's and comics. So that became my new place to go to every week. But I usually ended up spending a couple of hours there because the comics came in with all the rest of their magazines and I had to wait for them to put them all out before I was allowed to start picking things up. So, in all that time I spent in that store, I began associating the smell of tobacco with my love for comics. I don't smoke. But, I do enjoy the smell of fresh tobacco. Not cigarette's, per se. But the smell of fresh tobacco, and chew, and cigars. And to this day, I still associate that smell with comics and that store. Anyways, my point is that I really do love this medium. And I feel that I've gone through a lot for that love week after week. Between finding them, finding the money for them, all the time reading and bagging and organizing, and, unfortunately all the peers and jeers of my friends. Well . . not all of them, but most of them. But you know what? It was always worth it. And right now I feel that the talent on these books is probably the best it's ever been. I'm not diminishing anybody from the past. Berni Wrightson, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Marshall Rogers . . . etc, etc, etc, . . . were all icons in their field. I just feel that the medium, as a whole, with the variety of talent it has to pick from, is probably at the best place it's ever been. And I would just loathe to see the factors of the world market ever bring that medium crashing down and diminished to obscurity. So we, as readers and collectors, have to do everything we can to support this medium. Heck, it's been around for about 70 years now. And it's weathered a lot of turmoil. But, I think, it's followers have been the ones to keep it alive. Year, after year, after year. So to me, with everything that's happened in this market in the last 5 to 10 years, and the fact that the quality of books being printed right now is so strong, it's a testament to the resiliency of this medium. But, as always, it's future is in your hands. 2007 was a really good year. It would be nice if they could all be this strong.

Goodbye Smokie - Personal

I'm really sad today. One of my cats passed. We found out a couple of weeks ago that she had lymphatic cancer. We took her in, thinking that it was a cold. She was having problems breathing and swallowing. She seemed to be wheezing a lot. Well anyways, of course, they did a blood test. A couple of days later they told us it was cancer. The strange thing about it is that she seemed so normal around Christmas time. She was her usual playful self. Playing with the other cats, getting into the decorations, milling about like Godzilla on our Christmas village. But then shortly after the holidays is when we noticed she was having problems. After the visit we were giving her medicine, but she was barely keeping it down. Plus we noticed that she was getting thinner and thinner, and was having a harder time breathing. Anyways, shes mostly been in hiding the last couple of weeks or so. Coming out occasionally to see us, or to use her litter box. And she hadn't been downstairs in probably two weeks. My wife would bath her occasionally to help her clean off her hair. But she just seemed to be less and less herself. Well, tonight we're watching TV when we hear this low guttural meow coming from the hallway. The other two cats were downstairs with us, so my wife immediately jumped up to see what it was. Well, here was Smokie meandering down the hallway. She picked her up, and she immediately flopped over in her arms. She thought that was it, so she hugged her and kissed her and then laid her down on the carpet. But Smokie was still fighting. She was still breathing, and looked up at me. At least I want to think so. So she starting petting her back, which was her favorite, and I her head, and she literally passed in our hands. The other two cats were just sitting around watching, but I would like to think that they knew what was going on. We let her lay there for a couple of minutes, then we wrapped her in her favorite towel, put her in a box, and took her outside to bury her. Don't get me wrong, I lost pets as a kid, but, I always seemed to not be around when it happened. This one, Smokie, really got to me. I started thinking about all her little habits. How when she wanted to be petted, she'd come up and tap on your leg. And then she'd turn around and wiggle her butt at you, because her back was her favorite. Or how she'd run back and forth across the upstairs to try to get the other cats attention when they were downstairs. Or how she'd like to lay on her kitty condo, bathing in the sun, on the back porch. And right now I'm thinking about how she's like to lay at my feet, under the desk, when I was on the computer. I'd have to be careful not to twitch and kick her. Or sometimes she'd lay behind me in the chair. But what really gets me, is that I'm going to miss her purr. She had this high pitched "peeping" type of purr that would start before you even touched her. And you just knew that she loved you, and loved your attention. She was such a little baby. She was 7 or 8 years old, and I knew that it was inevitable, but I really wasn't as prepared as I thought for it. I'll miss her deeply. My only condolence is in knowing that she's in a better place, and not suffering any more. I've prayed for her every night since this began. I'm actually relieved for her, but sad for myself and our house. I love you Smokie. I'll be thinking about you everyday!

Personal Notes - From Me

I gotta say, this is turning out to be a little more than I anticipated. When I thought this up, I felt that by blogging my views and opinions of the books that I read, it would help me appreciate them more. Especially since I can skim through a new book now in about 7 or 8 minutes. I was starting to feel like I wasn't really enjoying, or savoring, the experience. So I thought that if I took the time to sit down and compose my thoughts, after reading a book, that it would help me to understand and enjoy that sublte nuances of the books I was reading. To this end, I feel that it has been an accomplishment. However, I'm not working my way through my weekly pile as fast. I don't want my reading to get to far ahead of my posting, because then it feels like a job when I'm trying to catch up. And I gotta' say, I've been collecting and reading for a long time, and I enjoy it alot. I really don't want anything to diminish the joy I feel when I pick up a new book and start skimming through the adventures of some of my favorite characters. Add to this that I am an active Ebayer, and sometimes it feels like comics really consume all of my time. It's a good thing I work for a living. And, to add insult to injury, the new season of the networks has started. Try to tell me all of you weren't tuned in to "Heroes" the other nite for it's preview. I know you were. I was. But there are so many other shows that I watch. A short list includes: Smallville (of course), Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Studio 60, Two & 1/2 Men, According to Earl, Numbers, Eureka, Dr. Who (again, of course), Battlestar Galactica (starts this week, YAY!!) , Nip/Tuck, Smith, Jericho, Justice, Heroes (of course), CSI Miami, New vs Old Christine, Close to Home, How I met your mother, Happy Hour, Class, and 2 that I'm highly anticipating - the return of Medium, and the new series Dexter on Showtime. Now these aren't in any particular order. Hell, it's not even the complete list. But, Smallville is actually at the top of the list. All I can say is that TIVO is the greatest invention ever. So, between comics, work and my shows, how do I have any time for my girlfriend? That's what she's asking also. But, I guess, it all comes back to comics being my passion. And when you find a passion, you do whatever you have to to maintain that passion. My girlfriend is my passion to, but that's a whole 'nother story. And just in case you're wondering, some of my recent aquisitions from Ebay include some World's Finest, Brave and the Bold, old Fantastic Four, and some old Jonah Hex. Just feeding the "gotta-havit", I mean habit. Anyways, I just wanted to indulge myself, step away from the comic postings for a second, and jot down some of my personal thoughts. Thanks for listening. And maybe if I feel the flood gates starting to buckle in the future, I'll do this again.