Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Looking for Summer Reading?
Suggestions for good fantasy reading from Orson Scott Card, via National Review.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Zzang!
On a recent stop at Whole Foods Market in Rochester, I bought a candy bar. An unexceptionable event, you would think, but this was a $5 candy bar (Zingerman's Zzang! Candy Bars "What The Fudge?") in a little box from Zingerman's, the famous Ann Arbor deli. Two comments: $5 is a bit much for a single candy bar, even a 3 oz confection; this is one of the best pieces of candy I've ever eaten.
The box describes it as "Milk chocolate fudge, Muscovado caramel, and malted milk cream dipped in dark chocolate."
This is rather like a Milky Way, only good. Really shockingly good. It was also very rich, though not cloying or overly sweet, and the Cat Bastet and I split it. I ended up with 3/4 of the bar (her tolerance for sweets is distinctly lower than mine), but I ate it in three separate servings over the course of the evening, not all at once. It was worth savoring.
An elegant treat for rare occasions, especially at that price.
The box describes it as "Milk chocolate fudge, Muscovado caramel, and malted milk cream dipped in dark chocolate."
This is rather like a Milky Way, only good. Really shockingly good. It was also very rich, though not cloying or overly sweet, and the Cat Bastet and I split it. I ended up with 3/4 of the bar (her tolerance for sweets is distinctly lower than mine), but I ate it in three separate servings over the course of the evening, not all at once. It was worth savoring.
An elegant treat for rare occasions, especially at that price.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Comics in early July
I haven't had anything to say about comic books in a while. After the frustrations of early 2009, there have been a few decent things published, and I'm looking forward to Wednesday Comics from DC next week. Here are a few recent purchases of note:
Reborn 1 of 5. Captain America, famously, is dead, shot down on Manhattan courthouse steps two summers ago. And he's been replaced, to general satisfaction, by his old sidekick, Bucky Barnes. Now, no one has supposed, I would guess, that Steve Rogers wouldn't be back at some point, and any attentive and experienced super-hero comics reader couldn't have read the account of his death without picturing several ways for the writer to get out of it. Well, the method chosen surprised me a little... it's ok, and gives more opportunity for us to see Cap in WW II scenes, which has been a theme of Ed Brubaker's writing during this edition. I just expected something mind-blowing. This is good, though, and the Bryan Hitch art is fantastic. I really like Hitch, who combines a photo-realism style with great dynamism.
Mysterius the Unfathomable 2 of 5. This is way late, the book must have come out months ago, because I think the mini-series is complete. But I just saw the only copy I've seen at all on Wednesday, so I picked it up. Mysterius is a somewhat cranky, even rather sleazy, stage magician who now does investigations. The book is written by Jeff Parker, whom I like tremendously. He's written X-Men: First Class, Marvel Adventures: The Avengers and Agents of Atlas, all wonderful reads. I'd read that Mysterius was good, but wow. I haven't had this much fun reading a comic since All-Star Superman wrapped. The writing is witty, the story moves along briskly, intercut with interesting flashbacks from previous adventures, and the art is stylized and humorous in tone. I'll have to track down the rest of this.
Madame Xanadu 9-11. I first encountered Madame Xanadu in a one-shot by Steve Engelhart and Marshall Rogers many years ago. She was a fortune teller with real magical powers, and has appeared a few times since in various magic-themed DC books. But they weren't written by Englehart or drawn by Rogers, so I didn't pay much attention. The character recently got her own book, written by Matt Wagner. I bought the first couple of issues, which were handsome productions, but found the storytelling style frustrating; it was apparent that the series is tracing Xanadu from her origins (as Nimue) in Arthurian England, but without any editorial comment about what the pace was going to be like. My patience for that sort of thing is limited - serial fiction has some requirements to keep the reader coming back for the next issue, and I didn't think this version of Madame Xanadu was satisfying those requirements. I just happened to glance at a recent issue, however, and found that characters of greater interest, the Phantom Stranger and Zatara the magician (father of Zatanna) were appearing in a story set in the 1930s. Now that was fun. I do like the way Wagner allows Xanadu to be at odds with the other characters and even to make it clear that she's the one who's mistaken in the conflict, and yet sympathetic.
Reborn 1 of 5. Captain America, famously, is dead, shot down on Manhattan courthouse steps two summers ago. And he's been replaced, to general satisfaction, by his old sidekick, Bucky Barnes. Now, no one has supposed, I would guess, that Steve Rogers wouldn't be back at some point, and any attentive and experienced super-hero comics reader couldn't have read the account of his death without picturing several ways for the writer to get out of it. Well, the method chosen surprised me a little... it's ok, and gives more opportunity for us to see Cap in WW II scenes, which has been a theme of Ed Brubaker's writing during this edition. I just expected something mind-blowing. This is good, though, and the Bryan Hitch art is fantastic. I really like Hitch, who combines a photo-realism style with great dynamism.
Mysterius the Unfathomable 2 of 5. This is way late, the book must have come out months ago, because I think the mini-series is complete. But I just saw the only copy I've seen at all on Wednesday, so I picked it up. Mysterius is a somewhat cranky, even rather sleazy, stage magician who now does investigations. The book is written by Jeff Parker, whom I like tremendously. He's written X-Men: First Class, Marvel Adventures: The Avengers and Agents of Atlas, all wonderful reads. I'd read that Mysterius was good, but wow. I haven't had this much fun reading a comic since All-Star Superman wrapped. The writing is witty, the story moves along briskly, intercut with interesting flashbacks from previous adventures, and the art is stylized and humorous in tone. I'll have to track down the rest of this.
Madame Xanadu 9-11. I first encountered Madame Xanadu in a one-shot by Steve Engelhart and Marshall Rogers many years ago. She was a fortune teller with real magical powers, and has appeared a few times since in various magic-themed DC books. But they weren't written by Englehart or drawn by Rogers, so I didn't pay much attention. The character recently got her own book, written by Matt Wagner. I bought the first couple of issues, which were handsome productions, but found the storytelling style frustrating; it was apparent that the series is tracing Xanadu from her origins (as Nimue) in Arthurian England, but without any editorial comment about what the pace was going to be like. My patience for that sort of thing is limited - serial fiction has some requirements to keep the reader coming back for the next issue, and I didn't think this version of Madame Xanadu was satisfying those requirements. I just happened to glance at a recent issue, however, and found that characters of greater interest, the Phantom Stranger and Zatara the magician (father of Zatanna) were appearing in a story set in the 1930s. Now that was fun. I do like the way Wagner allows Xanadu to be at odds with the other characters and even to make it clear that she's the one who's mistaken in the conflict, and yet sympathetic.
The Government and Efficiency
You would think handling a simple thing like distributing booze from a liquor control commission would be easy enough. I mean, they've been doing it in Washington state since the 30s, right?
Nope.
As I've noted before, I'm not a fan of Michigan's distribution system. They seem to get the liquor to stores ok, but I deeply resent the senseless control over what I can buy for my liquor cabinet. If they'll sell gin at all, why can't I get Bluecoat? If they sell rye, why can't I get Rittenhouse?
I can't wait until the government is running health care. There won't be any problem with that, oh no sir.
Nope.
As I've noted before, I'm not a fan of Michigan's distribution system. They seem to get the liquor to stores ok, but I deeply resent the senseless control over what I can buy for my liquor cabinet. If they'll sell gin at all, why can't I get Bluecoat? If they sell rye, why can't I get Rittenhouse?
I can't wait until the government is running health care. There won't be any problem with that, oh no sir.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
And What Does The Left Say About Star Trek?
We've heard from a right-wing writer from National Review, the estimable Jonah Goldberg, so let's even things up and hear from a lefty! New Republic's Christopher Orr reviews the film here. Both writers enjoyed the film but both have issues with the plot.
As for me, when the Cat Bastet, my somewhat theoretical co-blogger here, wanted to go today, I urged her to find someone else to see the movie with. I've suffered the effects of many a "rebooted" franchise in comics; I find my appetite for such things is waning. Such efforts rarely exceed the original, in my experience. Maybe I'll trouble myself to see the DVD.
As for me, when the Cat Bastet, my somewhat theoretical co-blogger here, wanted to go today, I urged her to find someone else to see the movie with. I've suffered the effects of many a "rebooted" franchise in comics; I find my appetite for such things is waning. Such efforts rarely exceed the original, in my experience. Maybe I'll trouble myself to see the DVD.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Another Star Trek Review
Jonah Goldberg of National Review reviews the new movie in this column. Goldberg is a science fiction fan, and Star Trek gets discussed surprisingly frequently at National Review Online. (Not nearly so much in the magazine itself). (Oh, and there are major spoilers in the review, toward the end.)
Monday, May 4, 2009
What's Wrong With Comics Today
A lot, actually, but this Lying In The Gutters column has a long series of remarks by Dwayne McDuffie that encapsulate a lot of my issues. McDuffie answered a lot of questions from fans, quite honestly, on the DCU boards, but there are 69 pages of that, so the excerpts are very useful.
I like McDuffie, who was a writer for the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoon series, as well as the JLU comic book. He also did a good turn on Fantastic Four recently. While I was looking forward to his JLA after Brad Meltzer's year as scripter (Meltzer's take on the Justice League completely turned me off), McDuffie was no more readable. It was no mystery why; editorial dictates about who was on the team and what to feature in stories, and of course the endless crossovers with big events at DC, were wrecking the book. You only had to read it with some knowledge of the writer and how comics work these days to realize that McDuffie had nothing to do with the editorial direction of the book, which seemed to veer from one unrelated objective to another.
This has happened before to books I enjoy. Back in the 1980s, the Earth Two books written by Roy Thomas were completely wrecked by Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the early 90s, back at Marvel, Roy's Dr. Strange series was similarly turned into a zombie dancing to the tune of one Infinity Gauntlet crossover after another, until it was all simply unreadable. Thomas, of course, a superlative professional, toed the line and coped with it all; so does McDuffie now. But this is no way to produce good comic books.
I was just contemplating earlier today how comics used to be written. I saw (well, was in the room for, anyway) X-Men 3 last night for the first time, and was recalling the old Claremont-Cockrum-Byrne classic set of storylines that introduced and then disposed of Phoenix, the second superheroic identity of original X-Man Jean Grey. Claremont's pace and approach would never work today, as writing for the trade limits ongoing plots and characterization in a way that has changed the basic storytelling format of comics.
As I've mentioned before, I'm rapidly shifting my own reading habits, choosing to buy (discounted at Amazon) trade paperbacks of good stories for my bookshelf instead of continuing to read the zombiefied superhero comics of today. Incredible Hercules and Captain America are the only ongoing books I'm really getting a kick out of now. Lately I've been compiling all the available trades of Fabien Nicieza and Tom Grummett's superlative and underappreciated Thunderbolts run from a few years ago. More about that later.
I like McDuffie, who was a writer for the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoon series, as well as the JLU comic book. He also did a good turn on Fantastic Four recently. While I was looking forward to his JLA after Brad Meltzer's year as scripter (Meltzer's take on the Justice League completely turned me off), McDuffie was no more readable. It was no mystery why; editorial dictates about who was on the team and what to feature in stories, and of course the endless crossovers with big events at DC, were wrecking the book. You only had to read it with some knowledge of the writer and how comics work these days to realize that McDuffie had nothing to do with the editorial direction of the book, which seemed to veer from one unrelated objective to another.
This has happened before to books I enjoy. Back in the 1980s, the Earth Two books written by Roy Thomas were completely wrecked by Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the early 90s, back at Marvel, Roy's Dr. Strange series was similarly turned into a zombie dancing to the tune of one Infinity Gauntlet crossover after another, until it was all simply unreadable. Thomas, of course, a superlative professional, toed the line and coped with it all; so does McDuffie now. But this is no way to produce good comic books.
I was just contemplating earlier today how comics used to be written. I saw (well, was in the room for, anyway) X-Men 3 last night for the first time, and was recalling the old Claremont-Cockrum-Byrne classic set of storylines that introduced and then disposed of Phoenix, the second superheroic identity of original X-Man Jean Grey. Claremont's pace and approach would never work today, as writing for the trade limits ongoing plots and characterization in a way that has changed the basic storytelling format of comics.
As I've mentioned before, I'm rapidly shifting my own reading habits, choosing to buy (discounted at Amazon) trade paperbacks of good stories for my bookshelf instead of continuing to read the zombiefied superhero comics of today. Incredible Hercules and Captain America are the only ongoing books I'm really getting a kick out of now. Lately I've been compiling all the available trades of Fabien Nicieza and Tom Grummett's superlative and underappreciated Thunderbolts run from a few years ago. More about that later.
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