Roadside Picnic

I didn't drive up to Origins. I was up way too late last night, and slept in this morning. Backup plans for this evening fell through, too.

Instead, it looks like movie night. Watching In Cold Blood, and writing a little bit about narcotics trafficking.

Like a lot of other people, I've been watching some of the World Cup. The US made a good showing, but was knocked out today by Ghana. France's team self-destructed like a comic-book villain's doomsday device. I guess now I'm backing England.

My Dodgers have started going off the rails, too. After leading the NL West for a while, they've dropped into a tie for third in the division. The Reds are doing pretty well, currently tied for first in the NL Central. And I still really need to get to a Legends game, and soon.

Not a whole lot else going on. Still digging on the Pendragon game. Reading Driving Like Crazy, by P. J. O'Rourke. Learning bits and pieces about Pages as a layout application. Liking Bendis' Avengers and Brubaker's Secret Avengers a lot.

I finally got out of town on Saturday. Went to Louisville to hang out with D, and it was, on the whole, a very good day. We indulged our craft nerd sides - she has a nifty new mug and I got some new cheeses from a local dairy. Shopping on Bardstown Road, including throwing some money at Ear X-Tacy, 'cause if there's any music store that deserves to stay open, that one's it. Picked up a few back issues at The Great Escape. Dinner at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Went to a movie, and that's when the trouble started. I'll save you the squishy details, but my stomach went into open rebellion. I made it back to Lexington easily enough, but had a hallucination-grade fever by the time I hit Frankfort.

Sunday was spent dealing with the sick. Dehydrated, continued fever, headache, weakness. I'm hoping it was my peculiar food allergy (strawberries) kicking in rather than a virus of some kind. I took today off to rest up, and the symptoms seem to be gone now.

Oh, the movie? The Wolfman. Not bad - perfectly serviceable little popcorn flick.

Watched the Oscars last night for the first time in a few years. Ben Stiller's skit was embarrassingly bad (and really, who's surprised here?), and the dance program went on waaaaay too long. Happy enough with the results of the night, I guess.

Probably going to drop Daredevil from my comics list. Brubaker spoiled me, and the new guy's not bad, but the tight focus on Hell's Kitchen really worked for me, and that's now gone. I'm going to pick up the second monthly Iron Man title, of course, and probably the new Avengers title, too. DC's launching yet another LSH book, so that'll get added. That'll put me at 5 DC and 3 Marvel titles a month, at least for a while. Unexpected.

Started my Community Emergency Response Team course last week, and I really like it. I like being back in a classroom, learning something new. Stagnation sucks rocks, kids.

Hopefully getting back to the Hollow Earth Expedition game Wednesday night. And I'm running a Traveller one-off in a couple of weeks. Gotta get cracking on that one.

Last name of the actor playing Gambit in the upcoming Wolverine origin movie?  Kitsch.  Couldn't be more appropriate.

The Twilight: 2013 game wrapped up early.  Not sure what's coming next, who the GM's going to be, anything.  I'd be happy enough not picking up the Viking hat right away, since I'm already running Spycraft for the UKMSU.  Have to see how discussions and recruitment go in the coming weeks, I guess.  I'm of a mind to try a World of Darkness game of some stripe, if it falls to me.

Thing is, I also want something huge.  I blame JSA and what bits of Final Crisis I've been following.  I want to just take out the brakes and let things go like mad.  Let it be a spectacular success or an equally huge trainwreck, just let it be something epic.

Nasty stomach troubles last night.  Subsided after some medicine.  No recurrence today.

We're getting a nice snowstorm here tonight.  Some accumulation on everything but paved surfaces, which I'm quite thankful for.  It's really quite lovely out there.

Things at work took an unexpected turn this week.  Supervisor B stepped down, and my current team became reintegrated with my old team, under the supervision of Supervisor L.  The micromanagement is gone, and there is a clearer division of daily duties.  I'm feeling good about this, and ex-Supervisor B seems to be in much, much better spirits.

Thanksgiving's a week from today.  Christmas shopping to begin soon.

Civilization: Revolution (DS) is rather a lot of fun.  Kushiel's Justice was a good read.  And The Lies of Locke Lamora is off to a good start.

The new iPhone launches today.  I would not want to be at an Apple or AT&T store, and I got a text from AT&T yesterday morning warning of possible service outages today.  I think they're terrific devices, but not yet terrific enough that I want one.

Comics this week:
The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #5 (of 5):  Disappointing ending to the story.  It's another case of me not knowing what I expected, but this certainly wasn't it, I think.  Another series is planned for September, and I expect I'll get sucked into that one, too.
Invincible Iron Man #3:  Matt Fraction, for whatever other sins he might have committed, knows how to write IM.
Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #4 (of 4):  The post-Armor Wars red-and-gold suit merged with Excalibur's scabbard!  Doctor Doom!  A giant demon-thing made entirely of eyeballs and optic nerves!  This was great fun.
Justice Society of America #17:  More with Gog.  The JLA shows up.  Mister Terrific faces his disbelief.  I love this series so much.

34 days until GenCon.

Today's reading:  Dragonfly, by Bryan Burrough.  It's an account of the Shuttle-Mir program.  A very good read, and pulls no punches on either side.  It hammers on the Russian obsession with secrecy and apparent indifference towards safety, and the dreadful political maneuvering that NASA has to go through (and seems to thrive on internally).  Somewhere along the line, reading this led me to read about Chernobyl, too.

Today's writing:  A Starship Troopers article for Pyramid.  Couldn't really get spooled up for either M&M or Spycraft.

Today's movie:  Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.  It's not really bad, but it is astoundingly not good.  The Fantasticar should not have a Dodge gunsight grill or be powered by a Hemi (and just so you know, Dodge, people that know cars nowadays know that that vaunted term doesn't mean nearly as much now as it did 35 years ago).  Some redemption in the way Dr. Doom was handled.  And I may be one of seven people on the planet who liked Galactus as a big honkin' cloud.  That's one of the few things that I think the Ultimates line does better than Marvel-616.  I'm just not taken with a giant man wearing a pointy pope-hat as a world-devouring cosmic entity.

An upcoming JSA story arc is going to see the Kingdom Come Superman joining the Society.  No good at all can come of this, especially since we've by now seen the "And Evil Will Inherit the Earth" poster with KCSuperman.  I am greatly digging on this title.

Today is the first day of summer.  Already.  Wow.

Atlantis is scheduled to land a little before 2 this afternoon, but bad weather at KSC may cause delays.

Comics this week:
Iron Man #19:  A World War Hulk tie-in.  Hulkship appears, Hulk threatens to smash, Tony proselytizes and rationalizes, shows up in humongous battlesuit, fights with Hulk.
IM: Hypervelocity #6 (of 6):  Gleeful squeals throughout.  Prominent use of Iggy Pop and the Stooges in soundtrack.  Lots of butt-whuppery and discussion of transhumanism and the Singularity (Vernor Vinge) and the like.
Justice League of America #10:  The finale of the Lightning Saga (running through J Society of A, too).  So, let me get this straight.  The Legionnaires came back to get Wally West and his family out of the Speed Force, and they left Karate Kid in the early 21st Century instead of bringing him home.

M&M tonight.  Team still needs a name.  Group still could use one or two more players.

This week's comics:

Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #4:  Very pretty.  Nice mythology essay.  I know it's going to kill me eventually, but this is wonderful stuff.
Iron Man #17:  Angst.  Powersuits.  Tentacle monster.  Look, Knauf Brothers, this is Iron Man, not anime.
Omega Flight #2:  Losing interest in this at a speed normally seen only during basketball season.
Teen Titans #46:  Oh, screw you, Slade.  "I've given them a family."

Tuesday's memorable dream:  I was directing recovery efforts in a familiar city that had suffered some kind of cataclysm.  Low-yield nuke, massive conventional blast, something.  Very vivid, if geographically vague.

Last night:  There were zombies.  Not in the same place, however.

I know it was actually Brubaker who wrote it, but when I'm on trial for beating Mark Millar to death with a pool cue, I will say, in my defense, that he was the person ultimately responsible for killing Captain America, and there will be somebody on the jury for whom that will be a viable defense, and I'll walk.

Yes, I know.  Cap will come back.  But this shit has Gone Too Far.

Alright, with that out of the way ...

Dark Tower:  The Gunslinger Born #2 has given me the happy.  This 7-issue series is Roland's childhood history as related the first time in The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass.  Susan Delgado arrived in this issue.  For those who've read W&G, you know the heartbreak ahead.  It is going to be a wonderful read.

Civil War: The Initiative has some poo in it, being a Civil War piece, but there's some nifty stuff, too.  Previews of Omega Flight, which I'll probably snap up (5-issue series).  Last panel in the book showcases a somewhat funky-looking version of the old silver-and-black War Machine armor, so I'll probably take a look at Avengers: The Initiative.

Iron Man: Hypervelocity is rocking my socks.  The mostly-sentient armor's internal monologues are really working for me.  This limited series is really pushing my old cyberpunk buttons, and it's the kind of story that I would have really gone bugnuts for way back when.

And I've got a shiny new idea for the All Flesh Must be Eaten game.  This just might come together.

More cold today, and 3-5" of snow predicted in the next 15 hours.  Nothing coming down right now, but the Weather Channel's map shows a big honking mess of snow over Indiana and Illinois, heading our way.  So much for my fleeting plans to try getting in with the Mustang today.  Locals - I'm going to be at the office until at least 8, maybe closer to 9, but if the Explorer and I can help out, do not hesitate to call.

Erin got back safely last night, as a call at 1:15 a.m. let me know.  I'm glad she's back, but, wow, that was some good sleep.  Probably won't get to see her until Sunday, though.  I miss her something fierce.

Will probably finish up World War Z during tonight's bedtime reading.  Man, this is some really good stuff.  Brooks is a fine writer, and I recommend this book to everybody.

The Dark Tower comic series releases today or tomorrow.  Half of my comic purchases for the week, I guess, with Hypervelocity filling out the deliberately truncated list.