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Cornucoping
Just a ramble before I settle down to read and go to bed. Extremely busy at work and I've been putting in quite a bit of overtime. Made tacos tonight, had a couple beers, finished watching the first disc of SEINFELD SEASON FOUR.
Listening to the White Stripes' GET BEHIND ME, SATAN right now. This is only the second time I've listened since I got it three weeks ago, which is significant, as ELEPHANT was something I was listening to every day. SATAN isn't a bad disc, but clearly it seems designed to throw the Johnny-Come-Lately fans off the wagon and onto the next hip band, with its calculated lack of electric guitar and awkward, often thin production. It's kind of growing on me, though.
Listened to the new Coldplay, X & Y, as well. I have mostly positive feelings about the band, though they're somewhat complicated by the fact my ex-wife was a late convert and I guess she's going to see them live with her new fella. Also, at the last Super Bowl party we attended, we'd already kind of separated and the night was excruciating, and she cried on the way home listening to the disc, particularly the song, "The Scientist", with its refrain of "Let's go back to the start", as the kids nodded off to sleep in the dark in the backseat. Christ, I didn't mean to get into this. Anyway, none of this is the band's fault, of course, but there is a compulsion for me to almost dismantle my affection for the band now. When their last disc came out, I noticed immediately how sort of obvious and unsurprising the arrangements were, and how there were lots of big chords but not a lot of actual melodies, but damn if the whole thing didn't work very well. X & Y is pretty much more of the same, with lots of pounding ballads not far from the sound of "Politik", the earnest but often quite dull lyrics from Chris Martin, and lots of "ooh-ooh-ooh's" when those lyrics run out of steam. And yet, and yet, it's still a really good listen, his falsetto so good it really glues together any of those dead spots, and the piano and guitar playing basic but strong and sincere. "Fix You" is the first standout, to my ears, the first single "Speed of Sound" rather forgettable, I thought.
I bought my kids They Might Be Giants' NO! cd a month or so ago, but this is the first time I checked out the cd-rom features, and they're a lot of fun. 13 of the 17 tracks have interactive animations to them, where you can do things like feed potato chips to a mouse and make flowers grow, pop balloons to learn geographical facts, and open the contents of a grocery bag. Good stuff.
Well, the debut of the "NEW" Comic Book Galaxy, or "NCBG" as we call it, came and went without a hitch and with a huge increase in visitors, like four times the norm, I think. Naturally, this will go down quite a bit, but I think with all the talent on the site right now we'll do just fine. I have a new Breakdowns column up right now, in fact, though the regular time will be Friday starting on the next Friday after this. There's also a swell contest right now to win every damn book AiT/PlanetLar has ever published, so check it out. Nice to read a big ol' plug from Fred Hembeck about the site relaunch, too. Always liked me some Hembeck. This is a guy who really carved a totally unique niche for himself in the comics industry, and has kept it going for a long, long time. The Internet reaction to the relaunch was somewhat underwhelming, in that there wasn't a ton of feedback, and among that some really limp, yet occasionally vicious, attacks and complaints, but obviously lots more people are just digging the site and not sharing their thoughts, to judge from the stats. I had fun a little bit ago coming up with nasty things that sound kinda like "cognitive dissonance", but I won't be sharing them.
And for those checking, I DID get back on the Irregular Joe grind. Grind's the wrong word--it's a pleasure to write, if somewhat painful at the same time, but I didn't make a lot of progress tonight. I'll get cranking more tomorrow, though.
Tired now, and ironically, I wanted to finish Hester's and Huddleston's DEEP SLEEPER before hitting the hay. Excellent so far.
Listening to the White Stripes' GET BEHIND ME, SATAN right now. This is only the second time I've listened since I got it three weeks ago, which is significant, as ELEPHANT was something I was listening to every day. SATAN isn't a bad disc, but clearly it seems designed to throw the Johnny-Come-Lately fans off the wagon and onto the next hip band, with its calculated lack of electric guitar and awkward, often thin production. It's kind of growing on me, though.
Listened to the new Coldplay, X & Y, as well. I have mostly positive feelings about the band, though they're somewhat complicated by the fact my ex-wife was a late convert and I guess she's going to see them live with her new fella. Also, at the last Super Bowl party we attended, we'd already kind of separated and the night was excruciating, and she cried on the way home listening to the disc, particularly the song, "The Scientist", with its refrain of "Let's go back to the start", as the kids nodded off to sleep in the dark in the backseat. Christ, I didn't mean to get into this. Anyway, none of this is the band's fault, of course, but there is a compulsion for me to almost dismantle my affection for the band now. When their last disc came out, I noticed immediately how sort of obvious and unsurprising the arrangements were, and how there were lots of big chords but not a lot of actual melodies, but damn if the whole thing didn't work very well. X & Y is pretty much more of the same, with lots of pounding ballads not far from the sound of "Politik", the earnest but often quite dull lyrics from Chris Martin, and lots of "ooh-ooh-ooh's" when those lyrics run out of steam. And yet, and yet, it's still a really good listen, his falsetto so good it really glues together any of those dead spots, and the piano and guitar playing basic but strong and sincere. "Fix You" is the first standout, to my ears, the first single "Speed of Sound" rather forgettable, I thought.
I bought my kids They Might Be Giants' NO! cd a month or so ago, but this is the first time I checked out the cd-rom features, and they're a lot of fun. 13 of the 17 tracks have interactive animations to them, where you can do things like feed potato chips to a mouse and make flowers grow, pop balloons to learn geographical facts, and open the contents of a grocery bag. Good stuff.
Well, the debut of the "NEW" Comic Book Galaxy, or "NCBG" as we call it, came and went without a hitch and with a huge increase in visitors, like four times the norm, I think. Naturally, this will go down quite a bit, but I think with all the talent on the site right now we'll do just fine. I have a new Breakdowns column up right now, in fact, though the regular time will be Friday starting on the next Friday after this. There's also a swell contest right now to win every damn book AiT/PlanetLar has ever published, so check it out. Nice to read a big ol' plug from Fred Hembeck about the site relaunch, too. Always liked me some Hembeck. This is a guy who really carved a totally unique niche for himself in the comics industry, and has kept it going for a long, long time. The Internet reaction to the relaunch was somewhat underwhelming, in that there wasn't a ton of feedback, and among that some really limp, yet occasionally vicious, attacks and complaints, but obviously lots more people are just digging the site and not sharing their thoughts, to judge from the stats. I had fun a little bit ago coming up with nasty things that sound kinda like "cognitive dissonance", but I won't be sharing them.
And for those checking, I DID get back on the Irregular Joe grind. Grind's the wrong word--it's a pleasure to write, if somewhat painful at the same time, but I didn't make a lot of progress tonight. I'll get cranking more tomorrow, though.
Tired now, and ironically, I wanted to finish Hester's and Huddleston's DEEP SLEEPER before hitting the hay. Excellent so far.
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