You Maniacs, you blew it up! Damn you! God Damn you all to hell!!

Sorry, the baby went a little crazy today thus the title. Lots of screaming, yelling, crying, blotchy face, etc. So now that things have quieted down, here are some of the items I noticed this week.

I’ve got to start with television this week.  Of course the only thing worth mentioning is LOST.  Holy shit was it something else! Two hours of twists and turns and a plot that is racing towards… well something! I think the big surprise is that Jacob turned out to be the Dharma Initiative Organutang! Who would have thought that? Well it’s not true. We got more questions than answers again, but to be honest I don’t care. As usual, I’ll let other people share their thoughts…

• Cinematically Correct will be depressed for the summer.
• LOTRKing has plenty of spoilers here in case you’ve got it on TiVo.

Also in television, the AVClub tries to decide just what is the worst sitcom of all time?? My initial reaction includes Small Wonder as mentioned in the article, It’s a Living (I’ve actually stayed in that hotel, it’s a dump), Will & Grace likely the one I hate the most, and My Mother the Car, which while horrible is, in a strange way, quite amazing.

In Bob Dylan (yes I’m treating Bob as a category), I saw two things this week:

• An AVClub critic has never listened to Bob Dylan! I find it interesting though that he considers being 34 middle aged. God I hope not!
• The Times writes about Dylan as an artist.

And to mop up the week in links, books, comics, etc Electricity & Lust, everyone’s favorite (or at least mine) clearing house of links points out some really cool stuff including an interview with Jeffrey Tambor and the new trailer to the film adaptation of Choke. Also, some clips are on YouTube, check them out here while they last.

In other books to movies news, the Times also covered the filming of the movie version of The Road. I’m sure it will be the feel good movie of the year!

In books, the Times highlights the the best travel books so far this year.

In comics two things:

• A new book about Jack Kirby is reviewed today.
• The AVClub has a great, and I mean great looking slew of items in its comics panel.  Lots of Iron Man stuff.

Finally, One-Story has an intern. Apparently they’ve also started a Facebook page. Personally, I’d much prefer to see them on Twitter. I don’t have time or energy for that social networking page nonsense.

Catching Up

Another week has passed and boy did I fall behind on everything. Work has been rough this week, but I still noticed stuff!

First, I want to start in a piece of technology I read about in New York Times this week… The Chumby. What is it? It looks like a beanbag, it looks like an alarm clock. It’s essentially an interwebs widget machine. While it sounds like some of the kinks are being worked out in the touchscreen and the wireless, this thing looks awesome. It also looks like widgets will just get cooler and cooler.

I also keep hearing about muxtape which seems like a cool idea (though I’m sure no one would want my Bob Dylan, Henry Rollins, MC5 Megamix), but I cannot for the life of me figure out how the record industry has not gone after the site, the users, etc.

In television, Lost is racing towards the end of it’s season. Holy shit it’s getting good! It looks like we’re going to go to the mysterious Orchid Station and Locke might just get to do something pretty cool and wild. So many people write about it, why don’t you go check out:

• Cinematically Correct’s weekly roundup.
• LOTRKing’s Thoughts.

Cinematically Correct was also kind enough to remind me and get me excited about the new shows from JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon. Though I wish Whedon would write a few more Astonishing X-Men issues.

In music, a bunch of stuff is happening. I’m lazy, so I am going to rely on the AVClub to point stuff out.

• First, the Black Angels (who I thought released one of the best albums of 2007) have come out with a new record titled Directions to See a Ghost. The sample on the AVClub’s site sounds great.
• Second, Neil Diamond has released a new record, Home Before Dark. This album is again produced by Rick Rubin, so I’m expecting classic Diamond, not Comin’ to America.

I am totally behind in terms of comics. I’m kind of surprised that the comics panel hasn’t popped up on my reader lately. hmmmm

In general links, go check out Electricity & Lust, they’ve got everything from TV, to music, to pop culture, to politics. And for being from across the pond they do pay close attention to US politics. It’s always nice to get an outside perspective on things.

Finally, in books, there is a collection of short stories that is getting a lot of buzz out there. The Boat by Nam Le is getting noticed. The Times wrote not one, but two articles covering this new book:

• May 13: A World of Stories from a Son of Vietnam
• May 14: Stories to Explore Someone Else’s Skin

There is also mention of the book from One-Story here. It’s nice to see a collection of short fiction get some love from the mainstream press. Let’s hope it does well.

Happy Mother’s Day

Before I say anything about anything this week, Happy Mother’s Day to Shannon, your Junior Grumpy Future Comic Book Nerdloves you!

I’ve got to start this post with Comics. While my pile has been growing and growing and I’m WAY behind on comments, Marvel’s Secret Invasionhas been fantastic. The two issues they’ve released have been the kind of comics I have always loved to read; full of surprise and history and action. The tie-ins have been pretty awesome too. Here are a few reviews to check out:

• Mighty Avengers #13tells us a little of what Nick Fury has been up to.
• New Avengers #40tells us some of what the Skrulls have been up to.

I have not seen Iron Man yet (babies will do that) but here is some news about the thor movie.

The AV Club has noticed Ryan Adams and his blog.

The Philadelphia sports-loving Bizzaro Jerry has put up his weekly Lost post. It’s good stuff, which can be confirmed by Shannon’s out-loud laughter and praise while reading from her perch on the couch. His Bizzaro Jerry status (or mine depending on which universe you live in) can be confirmed somewhat with his Speed Racer post. I’m kind of happy to see this movie fail, the commercials make it look worse than I Love Trouble.

Electricty & Lust has released its links of most anticipated summer movies. Not sure why Hollywood has redone Short Circuit (this time without this week’s Howard Stern highlight – The Incredibly Hung Steve Guttenberg) but I can agree with the other links. There’s also some good stuff on Electricity & Lust’s Linkemonypost.

We finished HBO’s In Treatment and I have to say that, much like life, the last episode was full of sound and fury, yadda yadda yadda. It was a really interesting nine week experiment in television endurance and I wonder if HBO will try another season of it. Like life, the series showed how messed up people are without making it all tidy or giving us much of a resolution.

I’m reading Franzen’s The Corrections and so far it’s great stuff. I still have a mountain of New Yorkers and comic books to climb.

Long Tired Week

It’s been a weird, long week. I didn’t seem to get a lot of reading done and soaked in media mostly via the television. However, thinking back there are a number of things to talk about and share with my reader.

In technology, the Times’ Circuits section has once again pointed out some interesting tech items. First, the DYMO Disc Painter let’s you burn images right onto your CD or DVD without a label. While not everyone needs or could use it, I just thought it was cool.
Secondly, SanDisk’s Cruzer Titanium Plus is a nifty flash drive with a few tricks up its sleeve. It has some additional features including security and backup.

In television, I have to admit I’ve discovered a great show later than the rest of the universe. Battlestar Galactica is one of the coolest, most interesting series I have seen in some time. Shannon and I have made it through the mini-series and are eager to begin hitting the other episodes.

Also in television, we just finished John Adams on HBO. If you get HBO, its a series worth watching. Thankfully, HBO repeats everything all the time so if you missed it, I bet you can still catch it.

Finally in television, Lost was came roaring back this week and holy shit, it was a good episode. Cinematically Correct, LOTRKing, Vozzek69 on Dark UFO and Jeff Jensen on Dark UFO have posted their thoughts.

In books, I added The Green Marketing Manifesto to my mountain of books that are yet to be read.

In music, I just popped a Be Your Own Pet CD into my car. So far, it rocks out quite nicely. It reminds me a little bit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

In sad news, one of my local record stores Schoolkids closed. While I still have Off Beat in Durham I really wish I had a better choice than Amazon on the interwebs. I’d love any suggestions for an independent record store on the web that I could order from. I love going to record stores but find that I don’t have a lot of time available to leave my couch. Babies do that for some reason.

A few random notes:

• I still have a stack of comics to go through and more to buy this week. Captain America #37 was great. Can’t wait for the next issue of Secret Invasion.
• In movies, we bought Gone Baby Gone on Pay per View and it was excellent. Well worth checking out. We also watched Can’t Buy Me Love and laughed at the silliness of Patrick Dempsey.

That’s it for now, as Shannon just said, the baby has opened the cargo bay doors and dropped a big payload.

The Week That Was

With a new baby and all, my sleep schedule is screwed up, thus my media consumption is down. WAY down. Beyond the Game Show Network feeding me a steady stream of Match Games and Super Passwords, my heavy eyelids have shortened my attention span to nearly zero. However, never fear gentle reader (and I know there’s only one of you out there), I have a few things to add to the world of the interwebs this week…

The good folks at the AV Club published their latest Comics Panel. It covers a number of things I’ve been reading, including Kick Ass (which I thought was fun) and the Fantastic Four.

This week’s Lost was pretty good. Here is a good recap from a pop culture blog that writes a lot more than I do. The nice thing is, I think the author and I share a lot of common tastes. Check out Cinematically Correct here.

Thanks to Our aforementioned friends at Cinematically Correct for also bringing the latest fun stuff from Ryan Adams to my attention to. Hopefully an album is on the way.

Also in music, The Raconteurs (Jack White’s band) announced that their second album is coming out on Tuesday. Yes, I said THIS TUESDAY. Holy surprise Batman! I can’t wait. The album will be called Consolers of the Lonely. I can’t wait! I want to go get it from my local record store but I fear with my schedule I might end up buying it off the interwebs.

I think that’s it for now.  I ordered the new Kathleen Edwards album off the interwebs and will write about it if I’m awake.  The one good thing about late night television is that I’ve seen parts of Planet of the Apes, the Blues Brothers, Animal House, etc. lately.  I saw the Blues Brothers on Cinemax and forgot the joy of that film uncensored.