A while back, I grumbled about the folks at Wandering Star who released two volumes of an ultra-expensive (multi-hundred dollar) slipcased set of Conan hardcovers, then took the check from Random House and sold them the rights to all three volumes without ever releasing the third matching slipcased set.
Well, I still don't think very much of Wandering Star and their inability to follow through on their commitments to their collectors, but I'm pleased to report that another publishing company, Subterranean Press, has worked out an arrangement to continue the Robert E. Howard series of deluxe hardcovers. Alas, their first release isn't the missing Conan Volume Three; instead, it's a King Kull volume. But I'm hoping that the Conan volume makes the schedule soon; it'd be nice to see someone find a cure for Wandering Star's Conanitis Interruptus.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Finding Finding Amanda
Turned on the TV when I got home and discovered that my DirecTV DVR had recorded a film called Finding Amanda. Didn't remember it at first, then I realized what it was. Mark Cuban's HDNet periodically airs feature films a few days before they open in theaters; this is one of them, a dark comedy with Matthew Broderick, Maura Tierney, and Brittany Snow. I like Matthew Broderick okay, have little patience for Maura Tierney, but Brittany Snow... now here's one of the most endearing young actresses in years. She was the bright spot in American Dreams, a mixed-quality series about life in the early 1960s; like Sandra Bullock in her early years, she has an engaging appeal that makes you like her almost instantly.
The film? Adequate but nothing great; its saving grace is Snow's ability to bring charm to a role that in otherwise would have been largely unlikeable.
And I gotta admit, I do like this idea of showing movies in HD a few days before they show up in theaters. Thanks, Mr. Cuban!
The film? Adequate but nothing great; its saving grace is Snow's ability to bring charm to a role that in otherwise would have been largely unlikeable.
And I gotta admit, I do like this idea of showing movies in HD a few days before they show up in theaters. Thanks, Mr. Cuban!
Targeting Crime
This evening seemed so mundane when I left home at about 7pm to make a quick run to Target for some bird seed.
I had made my purchase and was on my way out of the store; a young woman with several things in her cart approached the doors at the same time I did, so I paused to let her out. We were parked near one another, so we walked in the same direction.
As I walked to the car, I noticed a black SUV with four late high school/early college age people hanging around it; the thing was, they were sort of talking to each other but spending a lot more time watching people. I made eye contact with one of them--a shirtless athletic-looking fellow--twice, and that struck me as odd. People talking to friends usually look at one another, not at all the people in the parking lot.
As I got in my car, they got in their SUV and began backing out. When I looked in my rear-view mirror, though, I saw that they had stopped again, and the shirtless fellow had gotten out of the car. A second later, he's running full-speed towards the woman who had exited the store before me; he pushed at her, grabbed her purse, and took off running around the side of the store.
Meanwhile, his friends were so busy watching their purse-thief pal that they didn't notice that I had immediately turned around and pulled up just behind them at an angle to get their license number. When they noticed me, the girl who was driving hit the gas to get out of there; I already had the license number, though.
I drove up to the victim. "Are you okay?
"Yes..." She was confused and a little panicked.
"Were they friends of yours?" I wanted to be sure this wasn't some friends goofing around.
"No, they stole--"
"I saw it; I'm calling 911 now." I had already dialed the numbers; I hit send, and five seconds later I'm on the phone with the operator, telling her what had happened and giving the full license number, a description of the vehicle, and a description of the occupants.
Less than five minutes later, Cobb County Police officers and detectives responded in a most impressive show of efficiency and concern. They had the description of the vehicle and the license plate out there; the vehicle was registered to a nearby address, and they had officers dispatched there and also had issued an alert for the vehicle.
The woman was visiting family; she lived in Singapore, and was confused and upset. "It happened so fast," she said. "I thought I was all alone. I didn't know what to do. You were like an angel," she kept saying. I was touched by her hyperbole, and saddened that something like this would mar her visit with her family. She used my phone to call her relatives; they soon drove up to wait with her, confused and concerned and angry. They tried to keep their composure, though, for her sake.
Less than thirty minutes later, an officer had pulled the vehicle over. Arrests were made, and it appeared that the victim was on the way to recovering most of her belongings. She was amazed. "I never thought something so bad could turn out good," she said. As the stress of what had happened began to catch up with her, she started to cry a little. "Thank you so much. This would have been awful if you hadn't been there."
There isn't much you can say to that except, "Glad I could help."
I hope her night got better.
And I hope the night got a lot worse for the four thieves who ruined this woman's evening...
I had made my purchase and was on my way out of the store; a young woman with several things in her cart approached the doors at the same time I did, so I paused to let her out. We were parked near one another, so we walked in the same direction.
As I walked to the car, I noticed a black SUV with four late high school/early college age people hanging around it; the thing was, they were sort of talking to each other but spending a lot more time watching people. I made eye contact with one of them--a shirtless athletic-looking fellow--twice, and that struck me as odd. People talking to friends usually look at one another, not at all the people in the parking lot.
As I got in my car, they got in their SUV and began backing out. When I looked in my rear-view mirror, though, I saw that they had stopped again, and the shirtless fellow had gotten out of the car. A second later, he's running full-speed towards the woman who had exited the store before me; he pushed at her, grabbed her purse, and took off running around the side of the store.
Meanwhile, his friends were so busy watching their purse-thief pal that they didn't notice that I had immediately turned around and pulled up just behind them at an angle to get their license number. When they noticed me, the girl who was driving hit the gas to get out of there; I already had the license number, though.
I drove up to the victim. "Are you okay?
"Yes..." She was confused and a little panicked.
"Were they friends of yours?" I wanted to be sure this wasn't some friends goofing around.
"No, they stole--"
"I saw it; I'm calling 911 now." I had already dialed the numbers; I hit send, and five seconds later I'm on the phone with the operator, telling her what had happened and giving the full license number, a description of the vehicle, and a description of the occupants.
Less than five minutes later, Cobb County Police officers and detectives responded in a most impressive show of efficiency and concern. They had the description of the vehicle and the license plate out there; the vehicle was registered to a nearby address, and they had officers dispatched there and also had issued an alert for the vehicle.
The woman was visiting family; she lived in Singapore, and was confused and upset. "It happened so fast," she said. "I thought I was all alone. I didn't know what to do. You were like an angel," she kept saying. I was touched by her hyperbole, and saddened that something like this would mar her visit with her family. She used my phone to call her relatives; they soon drove up to wait with her, confused and concerned and angry. They tried to keep their composure, though, for her sake.
Less than thirty minutes later, an officer had pulled the vehicle over. Arrests were made, and it appeared that the victim was on the way to recovering most of her belongings. She was amazed. "I never thought something so bad could turn out good," she said. As the stress of what had happened began to catch up with her, she started to cry a little. "Thank you so much. This would have been awful if you hadn't been there."
There isn't much you can say to that except, "Glad I could help."
I hope her night got better.
And I hope the night got a lot worse for the four thieves who ruined this woman's evening...
Just Gotta Get Away?...
Today, among the many other topics that come up in conversation during a typical day at Dr. No's, the subject of vacations arose. I am aware that my view of vacations is in the minority (of course, I'm nevertheless convinced I'm right!...), but I think the whole concept of vacations is greatly overrated.
The popular view is that a vacation is a sort of necessity in order to restore oneself; I frequently hear people lamenting "I haven't had a vacation in ---- (insert period of months or years)" as if it's some sign of deprivation. I don't agree with the view at all; the idea that one must have prolonged periods of time away from work ignores the fact that most of us have periods away from work on a regular basis... even if it's just a day or two here or a day or two there.
While vacation's root is "vacate," as in "to leave unoccupied," I also find contradictory this idea that one can only rest and relax by expending a great deal of time and money to go somewhere away from home for a prolonged period of time. I'm not saying that travel is bad per se, but that the idea that travel is a prerequisite for vacation is ill-considered; more often than not, the travel that's associated with vacations is hectic, costly, stress-inducing, and not particularly relaxing.
Equally odd to me is the idea that time spent away from home (where most of us have surroundd us with things we enjoy, and have access to more entertainment and amusement than anyone would have ever dreamed of a couple of decades ago) is somehow of higher quality than time spent at home. Yes, there can be an enjoyment in seeing other places--but there is also a significant amount of inconvenience as well.
Many who lament the lack of a vacation actually are lamenting the fact that, when they had time off, they didn't use it in the way that they would like to use it to qualify as a vacation. Somehow, the very concept of "vacation" seems to mandate that it can only be valid if spent in specific ways and/or in specific places.
We constantly enjoy brief vacations--moments or hours or days--when we are able to get away from the things we don't enjoy and focus on the things we do. Those moments qualify as vacation after vacation so long as we recognize them as such; instead, we too often wish away all of those relaxing moments by begrudging the fact that they're not spent doing something else. We "go without the meat, and curse the bread," to borrow from Edwin Arlington Robinson, not realizing that there is much to be enjoyed in our lives as they exist right now.
I know that my parents weren't the only ones who chided me as a chld for "wishing my life away" when in September I'd start wishing that Christmas was here. I didn't fully see it then, but I do now--in creating the idea that only Christmas was celebratory enough, I overlooked a thousand daily pleasures that I might have appreciated were I focused on those moments and not on the illusory concept of happiness that I had associated only with Christmas.
Too often, our fervent wish for vacations leads us to overlook the myriad of opportunities that we have every day to "get away from it all"...
The popular view is that a vacation is a sort of necessity in order to restore oneself; I frequently hear people lamenting "I haven't had a vacation in ---- (insert period of months or years)" as if it's some sign of deprivation. I don't agree with the view at all; the idea that one must have prolonged periods of time away from work ignores the fact that most of us have periods away from work on a regular basis... even if it's just a day or two here or a day or two there.
While vacation's root is "vacate," as in "to leave unoccupied," I also find contradictory this idea that one can only rest and relax by expending a great deal of time and money to go somewhere away from home for a prolonged period of time. I'm not saying that travel is bad per se, but that the idea that travel is a prerequisite for vacation is ill-considered; more often than not, the travel that's associated with vacations is hectic, costly, stress-inducing, and not particularly relaxing.
Equally odd to me is the idea that time spent away from home (where most of us have surroundd us with things we enjoy, and have access to more entertainment and amusement than anyone would have ever dreamed of a couple of decades ago) is somehow of higher quality than time spent at home. Yes, there can be an enjoyment in seeing other places--but there is also a significant amount of inconvenience as well.
Many who lament the lack of a vacation actually are lamenting the fact that, when they had time off, they didn't use it in the way that they would like to use it to qualify as a vacation. Somehow, the very concept of "vacation" seems to mandate that it can only be valid if spent in specific ways and/or in specific places.
We constantly enjoy brief vacations--moments or hours or days--when we are able to get away from the things we don't enjoy and focus on the things we do. Those moments qualify as vacation after vacation so long as we recognize them as such; instead, we too often wish away all of those relaxing moments by begrudging the fact that they're not spent doing something else. We "go without the meat, and curse the bread," to borrow from Edwin Arlington Robinson, not realizing that there is much to be enjoyed in our lives as they exist right now.
I know that my parents weren't the only ones who chided me as a chld for "wishing my life away" when in September I'd start wishing that Christmas was here. I didn't fully see it then, but I do now--in creating the idea that only Christmas was celebratory enough, I overlooked a thousand daily pleasures that I might have appreciated were I focused on those moments and not on the illusory concept of happiness that I had associated only with Christmas.
Too often, our fervent wish for vacations leads us to overlook the myriad of opportunities that we have every day to "get away from it all"...
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
How Time Flies...
Tonight, I wrapped up the last bits for Comic Shop News #1099 and began doing some work for CSN #1100. Such is the nature of a weekly: I never have a clean break between issues, because while I'm finalizing the material for one issue, I'm organizing info and sending out questions for the next and making arrangements for cover stories for the issue after that... There is no time when I can truly say "I'm finished for the week" and take a few days off before I start on the next issue; weeklies just don't work that way.
Nice round numbers like 1100 give rise to a little rumination; basically, that means that I've been writing Comic Shop News for a tad over twenty-one years now. That's more than two decades of weekly production with no missed deadlines--and with no off weeks. When you produce a weekly, there's no vacation as such; the best you can do is to try to do most of your work a week ahead, so that you only have to do late-breaking and/or last minute work the week that the issue goes to press.
As I told Neil Marks of Virgin during a chat yesterday, "If I weren't doing this for Comic Shop News, I'd still be tracking down info on comics--but instead of being a reporter, I'd just be that crazy fan who keeps bugging everyone." That's the best part of Comic Shop News: it gives me a professional reason to cater to my incessant desire for more information.
I mentioned last year that I was surprised to find several key issues of Comic Shop News saved in Mom and Dad's scrapbooks; it never occurred to me that my parents might have actually been pleased that I was making a living doing things that I enjoyed so much, like owning a comic shop and publishing a fanzine that makes some money. I don't know if they still remember those high school years when I was doing apazines and writing letters of comment and contributing pieces to other fanzines--and I don't know if they ever imagined way back then that I'd find a way to do this on a weekly basis for a larger readership than the average issue of the Rome News-Tribune.
1100 issues. Who'da thunk it? Certainly not me!...
Nice round numbers like 1100 give rise to a little rumination; basically, that means that I've been writing Comic Shop News for a tad over twenty-one years now. That's more than two decades of weekly production with no missed deadlines--and with no off weeks. When you produce a weekly, there's no vacation as such; the best you can do is to try to do most of your work a week ahead, so that you only have to do late-breaking and/or last minute work the week that the issue goes to press.
As I told Neil Marks of Virgin during a chat yesterday, "If I weren't doing this for Comic Shop News, I'd still be tracking down info on comics--but instead of being a reporter, I'd just be that crazy fan who keeps bugging everyone." That's the best part of Comic Shop News: it gives me a professional reason to cater to my incessant desire for more information.
I mentioned last year that I was surprised to find several key issues of Comic Shop News saved in Mom and Dad's scrapbooks; it never occurred to me that my parents might have actually been pleased that I was making a living doing things that I enjoyed so much, like owning a comic shop and publishing a fanzine that makes some money. I don't know if they still remember those high school years when I was doing apazines and writing letters of comment and contributing pieces to other fanzines--and I don't know if they ever imagined way back then that I'd find a way to do this on a weekly basis for a larger readership than the average issue of the Rome News-Tribune.
1100 issues. Who'da thunk it? Certainly not me!...
Alpha-better
If you haven't checked out Marvel's Thor relaunch by writer J. Michael Strazcynski, I strongly rcommend that you give it a try; the book offers a distinctive reinterpretation of Lee and Kirby's Thor, re-establishing Asgard right in the middle of the US. It's surprising, unpredictable, and stylish.
But it has one problem.
This book has some of the worst lettering I've ever seen. Oh, the craft itself is fine--but the font, which is designed to have a slightly Teutonic, slightly Scandinavian, slightly Anglo-Saxon look, is confoundingly difficult to read. It doesn't scan well, and it actually slows down the flow of the story. I know it's a stylistic choice by Marvel's editorial staff to have the letterer use this style, but it strikes me as the wrong choice. Lettering should never become a barrier to reading; it's the ultimate case of style over function.
But it has one problem.
This book has some of the worst lettering I've ever seen. Oh, the craft itself is fine--but the font, which is designed to have a slightly Teutonic, slightly Scandinavian, slightly Anglo-Saxon look, is confoundingly difficult to read. It doesn't scan well, and it actually slows down the flow of the story. I know it's a stylistic choice by Marvel's editorial staff to have the letterer use this style, but it strikes me as the wrong choice. Lettering should never become a barrier to reading; it's the ultimate case of style over function.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Strike Out
I'm seeing more articles indicating that an actors' strike is looming, and that it might have as devastating an effect on network television as last year's writers' strike did. I'm even more pessimistic; if there's an actors' strike as widespread and long-lasting as last year's writers' strike, I think it might initiate a major network move away from scripted shows towards even more reality television. The networks haven't moved back into the profit range after the losses from last year's strike; a second strike of that significance might earn actors more money, but it could be a pyrrhic victory if they also destroy their opportunities to earn a living.
I'm glad I'm not a network executive right now...
I'm glad I'm not a network executive right now...
Journalistic Jigsaw Puzzle
Just finished putting together an extremely long article on the upcoming Tori Amos-inspired comics anthology Comic Book Tattoo; the piece will appear in Comic Shop News #1099, in stores 7/10. I had long interviews with editor Rantz Hoseley and with Tori Amos to work with; the challenge was assembling them into a single piece.
I've always viewed putting together this sort of article as a lot like assembling a jigsaw puzzle; each answer is a distinct piece, but the arrangement of those pieces determines the appeal of the assemblage. When everything comes together just right, I begin to really feel that the story is coalescing--and in this case, the story came together even better than I initially anticipated.
A normal CSN cover story is 1500-1600 words; this piece ran 5500, and that was with two edits. And I think that it offers a lot of insight into the editor, the artist, and the scope of the anthology. I always enjoy what I do with Comic Shop News, but some pieces really click for me--and this was one of them.
I'm pretty lucky--there aren't too many people who get to do what they enjoy and make money at it at the same time!
I've always viewed putting together this sort of article as a lot like assembling a jigsaw puzzle; each answer is a distinct piece, but the arrangement of those pieces determines the appeal of the assemblage. When everything comes together just right, I begin to really feel that the story is coalescing--and in this case, the story came together even better than I initially anticipated.
A normal CSN cover story is 1500-1600 words; this piece ran 5500, and that was with two edits. And I think that it offers a lot of insight into the editor, the artist, and the scope of the anthology. I always enjoy what I do with Comic Shop News, but some pieces really click for me--and this was one of them.
I'm pretty lucky--there aren't too many people who get to do what they enjoy and make money at it at the same time!
UN-Surprising Revelations
Is anyone surprised by these revelations by the UN's purported nuclear watchdog Muhammad Al-Baradei, made on the Al-Arabiya network this past weekend?
Iran has the capability to produce a nuclear weapon within six months to one year. "It would ned this period to produce a weapon, and to obtain highly-enriched uranium in sufficient quantities for a single nuclear weapon," Al-Baradei said.
And "If military force is used, I would conclude that there is no mechanism left for me to defend," El-Baradai added. "I always think of resigning in the event of a military strike."
So let's see if we have this straight: Iran is potentially six months away from a completed nuclear weapon in spite of the IAEA's useless oversight, but if anyone dares to do anything about it militarily, the inept El-Baradei will resign?
Quel dommage...
Iran has the capability to produce a nuclear weapon within six months to one year. "It would ned this period to produce a weapon, and to obtain highly-enriched uranium in sufficient quantities for a single nuclear weapon," Al-Baradei said.
And "If military force is used, I would conclude that there is no mechanism left for me to defend," El-Baradai added. "I always think of resigning in the event of a military strike."
So let's see if we have this straight: Iran is potentially six months away from a completed nuclear weapon in spite of the IAEA's useless oversight, but if anyone dares to do anything about it militarily, the inept El-Baradei will resign?
Quel dommage...
Everything's Better With Light Sabers In It
I have nothing more to say. You'll have to click here to check it out for yourself. (And bear in mind that I'm only previewing one of almost a dozen light-sabered gems here...)
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