The New Comic Books Are Here!

In addition to new music at the beginning of the month, I get my new comic book shipment. I get my stuff from mailordercomics.com, which has really good prices--the only disadvantage is that if you opt for once a month shipping, you're always a month behind everybody else, so there's risk of spoilers. I've run into issues with this on many ocasions, especially this month with the big plot twist from Buffy number 12. Which kind of annoyed me, but what can you do.

Anyway, I'm following quite a few comics right now. I started with just the media tie-in books, but I've branched out. So this month I got:


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8. I've been following this since issue one, and I've been enjoying it quite a lot. Joss' first arc was great, but I think the Faith ark from Brian K. Vaughan was just as good if not better, and Drew Goddard's new sequence is definitely living up to the high standards set so far by this comic. (Dark Horse)

Angel: After the Fall. I was an even bigger fan of Angel than I was of Buffy, so I was excited when I heard Angel's story would also continue in comic book form. Something about this comic really bugs me, though, and I can't even peg down waht it is. It just seems...dour, I guess. I suppose I'd hoped for a happier scenario for Angel and the gang. I should have known better, given how Joss left the TV series hanging. There's been interesting twists, though, and I remain intrigued and wondering where things are going to go. (IDW)

Serenity: Better Days. To round out the Joss Whedon trifecta. This series has just gotten underway, and I'm enjoying the ride so far. I'll probably have more to say about it later. (Dark Horse)

Doctor Who. These are the Ten/Martha comics, on issue two. These are also fun. The first issue seemed a bit shallow, but it was a standalone. Issue two is leading into a longer story, which I hope will have more depth. Oddly, this book has considerably more typos in it than any of the others. Weird. (IDW)

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home. Another tie-in. I'm liking this much more than Gunslinger Born, which I ended up not really reading when I discovered it was just a rewrite of a chunk of Wizard and Glass. This comic is telling a new story, though, that's not in the books, and so I'm considerably more interested. (Marvel)

Rogue Angel: Teller of Tales. I'm not familiar with the background of this book--apparently it's a comic version of a novel? Something like that. Anyway, I wasn't familiar with the story, but I saw an ad in the previews catalog and decided to give it a shot. I very much enjoyed the first issue--the premise hooked me--but the second issue left me a little flat. I think I'm just really prejudiced against flashbacks, and issue two was all flashback. (IDW)

Echo. Another one that looked interesting in the Preview catalog, mostly because of the stunning cover art from Terry Moore, also the author. Another intriguing premise with a female lead, much like Rogue Angel, but a very different kind of story. If this one continues in the vein of issue one, I'll be there. (Abstract Studio)

Knowledge is Power. This one just finished up the first story arc, and I think I might have actually gotten that issue last month, but only got around to reading it this month. I wouldn't swear to that, though. Anyway, this one's about vampires and ancient apocalyptic literature, so I'm totally there. Unfortunately, the first issue didn't hook me as strongly as the others, so now I'm not sure if I'm subscribed for issues beyond number four. Since I'm pretty into the story now after four issues, I'll have to look into that. (803 Studios)

Afterburn. Again, picked out of the Previews catalog because it looked interesting. In this story, the Eastern Hemisphere has been destroyed by a solar flare, so there are many post-apocalyptic goings-on. This one's entertaining me but not as much as some of the others. I'm hanging in there, though, and will give it at least one full arc before I decide if I want to continue. (Red 5 Comics)

Music!

It's the beginning of the month, so that means new music for me! I belong to eMusic, so at the beggining of the month I get my new monthly downloads with my membership. This month I got Dashboard Confessional, Dusk and Summer, Whiskey on a Sunday by Flogging Molly, Two EPs from TV on the Radio called New Health Rock and Young Liars, and two singles--"Strangers in the Night" from Cake, and "Black Star" from Gillian Welch. So far I've listened to Dashboard Confessional, Flogging Molly and the Cake single, and have very much enjoyed both. eMusic is a great value for the money, by the way--30 downloads a month for $9.99, all DRM-free MP3's. I highly recommend it.

Starbuck Hat

Here's a nifty knitting pattern, for those who are into Battlestar Galactica. It's not my favorite show at all, but I'm still tempted to knit this for the hell of it. Cause it's pretty. And I do like Starbuck...

Jericho--Why I Haven't Watched the Finale

I have some things on my DVR I need to watch, most notably the season (series--*sniff*) finale of Jericho. I almost don't want to watch it, because I know it's the last episode, unless another network picks it up, which is probably a longshot. And part of me just doesn't want to see how it ends.

I think this truncated, hold-n0-punches season has been solidly written, but it some ways I haven't enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed some of the tighter episodes of Season One. My complaints about S1 centered around too much soap opera-like content, not enough apocalyptic aftermath--my complaints about S2 center around too much political intrigue, not enough apocalyptic aftermath. Although I have to say the political intrigue is much more interesting than the soap opera stuff. I do like that so far they've given a good background for the cause of the bomb blasts. I'm a bit disappointed it seems to track back to a single crazy person instead of a full-fledged government conspiracy. I'm all for those full-fledged government conspiracies...

So I'm guessing the finale will be action-packed and have some good plot and probably a bit of an open-ended finish, but I'm still hesitant to watch. And I think a lot of this is that I'm afraid they'll kill off more characters. And they already almost lost me with...

WARNING BIG FAT SPOILER


...the death of Bonnie.

It wasn't just that they killed Bonnie. It was that they killed a woman on the verge of finding herself, of moving out into independence after spending her whole life largely dependent on a man. Maybe I'm overreacting to that, but death or maiming or Horrible Torture of some sort seems to be the fate of an independent woman far too often in literature of all stamps, from that stuff by dead white guys they make you read in college to prime time network TV.

Plus, I liked her.

So there you go. At some point, I'll get up the nerve to watch the episode--probably today, in fact, and then I'll probably comment on it. In the meantime, I'm finding myself a wee bit bitter.

It's Pretty Odd. No, Seriously...

I'm lounging here tonight listening to Pretty. Odd., the new album from punctuation innovators Panic at the Disco (sans exclamation point). And I have to say I'm impressed. Their last effort spawned a couple of catchy tunes, my favorite being "I Write Sins Not Tragedies," but failed to keep my attention. This one is an entirely different story. Lots of textures, catchy tunes that don't all sound the same (my biggest complaint about A Fever You Can't Sweat Out), and the Beatlesque comparisons are not undeserved. I knew it was going to be different when I first heard "Nine in the Afternoon," and the rest of the CD does not disappoint. Keep it up, kids--if you're this good now imagine what you'll be able to do when you're all grown up! *pets tiny baby rock stars*

Video for "She's a Handsome Woman."



Okay, so it's muppets. Sue me. It's still fabulous.

Here's a REAL video for "Nine in the Afternoon." Also fabulous.

Happy Easter!

To all those who celebrate, I hope you had a good day. We had a bit of snow here, but nothing serious.

I did some knitting for Easter this year--stuffed Easter eggs and adorable little stuffed bluebirds for my kids.

Here are links to the patterns:

Stuffed Easter Eggs. The patterns they give here are really nice, but I didn't want to spend the time to do the colorwork, so I knitted them up in variegated baby yarn. It striped up nicely, and they turned out really cute.

Bluebird. I used some leftover yarn out of my stash to make these. Again, very cute, and easy to make. Each egg and each bluebird only took me a couple of hours to knit up.

Welcome Back!

After letting this blog lay fallow for a while, I've decided to revive it with a bit of a new slant. I'll be talking about a little bit of everything--TV, movies, knitting, cooking--you name it. I hope you'll join me.