Some poor sod has shown up on my Sitemeter looking for nude pictures of Mary Hopkin. Somehow, I think his quest was in vain because the demure 60s Welsh chanteuse just didn't seem to be the type, at least to me. Aw, who knows, she may have been the most experienced dominatrix in all of Swingin' London for all I know, but I kinda doubt it. Anywho, out of curiosity I clicked on his Google search link and found this great site: SwinginChicks.com, a site devoted to, you guessed it, all the lovely birds of the 60s. Smashing, baby. All seriousness aside, it does look like some fun reading.

And just between you and me-Mary's "Earth Song/Ocean Song" is an excellent album.

Here's something interesting I found at GoodShit: The Weblogs Compendium. A listing of various tools which may be of some use to those of us who practice this blogging lifestyle. I'm always finding interesting stuff over at GoodShit. That site kicks booty.



Heh. I noticed that I had originally typed "interesting stiff". That, boys and girls, is what's known as a Freudian slip.

Back in 1983, DC released a comic series that was, quite frankly, unlike anything I'd ever read before and captivated me completely with its fascinating cast of characters and its experimental storytelling style. Its name was Thriller, and it lasted 12 issues before it died a year later. The first seven were done by its creators, Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden, but unfortunately they weren't able to sustain their collaboration and both were gone by issue nine. The reasons for the fiasco that the book became are numerous, and for years I wondered exactly what had happened. In those pre-internet days, access to the behind-the-scenes goings-on at the major comics companies was very limited. "Creative differences" was the only answer we were given, and for almost twenty years that had to suffice.

Years later, when I became aware of the Internet and all the various venues available to write, spotlight and discuss comics, I got the germ of an idea: since there was little or no mention of Thriller the comic series on the Web, then it would be up to me to create a site. And in 2001, I finally found a software program that I could use to do so, called Freeway. I didn't know how to write HTML code (still don't, even though I've learned a LOT from maintaining this blog page), but it worked a lot like QuarkXPress, which I am intimately familiar with. So I set to work, but I knew that if I was to do this right then I would have to try to speak to the creators themselves, Fleming and Von Eeden. Maybe then I would at least find out why they had stopped working on the book. I managed to track down Fleming through the comics store at which he shops, and he was gracious enough to phone me on several occassions and spend a lot of time discussing his brainchild with me. Von Eeden took a little more time, but through a couple of channels including Comic Book Artist magazine editor Jon B. Cooke I was finally able to send him a letter, telling him of my by-then published site and inviting him to check it out and comment. After a few months had gone by, I had pretty much resigned myself to never hearing from him; but then my patience was rewarded when he called me at home and informed me that not only had he received my letter, but he intended to write a critique of every issue he had worked on...and invited me to call him back and discuss it when I had read it! Of course, he's a busy man, and it has taken him a couple of more months to get it finished-he has even phoned me a few more times in the meantime to apologize for the delay! I finally received it today, and I'm utterly amazed and somewhat speechless...the man has taken the time from his busy schedule to not only write a 12 page, hand written (on both sides!) critique/commentary, but has sent me several pages of copies of his recent work. And in response to a joking suggestion of mine that he could do a couple of doodles in the margin, a blatant attempt to get some original art, he sent along what you see above- an 8 1/2 x 11 original pencilled and inked drawing of the main cast of characters. Like I said, I'm completely flabbergasted and feeling a bit like Wayne and Garth- "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!"

I haven't heard his response to what I've written on my site as of yet; I'm hoping that many of the statements I made, based on assumptions from the information I did have aren't so far off base that he takes offense. I don't think I crossed too many lines...guess we'll see. I also have a feeling I might have to go back and re-do a few commentaries, now that I have some more info. *Sigh*. Anyway, it's been an exciting last couple of hours as I've read the letter, and I wanted to pass along a little of it to all of you.

JLA inker Tom Nguyen has been sending those of us who requested to be placed on a mailing list scans of some of his illustrations that he's been doing on the side. Featured above is a sweet Zatanna piece he sent a while back. At first, he launched a web page, but apparently he's been having trouble with it because now he has created a Yahoo! group, which he told all of us on the list about over the weekend. So if you're interested in his work, go here.

The Happy Bacardi Show B-day this morning goes out to sweet l'il ol' Bridget Fonda, who has a smile that makes me feel all weird inside.

New Bill Nelson diary entry up on the Permanent Flame site. Seems Bill was lined up to have some of his music appear in a trailer for the upcoming Hulk film, but it fell through at the last minute. I'm surprised that there isn't more interest in having Nelson write music for films; one would think that idea would be a no brainer given the nature of his work.

Well, when I miss one, I miss one.

I thought Oakland's experience would offset Tampa's fierce defense somewhat, at least to where they would be able to keep their defense off the field, but it didn't work out that way. Oakland's soft D wasn't up to the task. And geez, whoever designed the Raiders' pass happy offensive scheme should be sat down and given a strong talking-to. Sure, they've been doing fine ignoring the run, but it was only a matter of time before they ran into someone that they couldn't pass on, and you can bet your ass that teams will prepare for the one-sided Oakland attack next year. There was also some bonehead clock management, and some really inopportune penalties...there's no one reason why Tampa laid the wood on them so convincingly.

But you know what? Sure I missed my prediction, but that's OK. I like Tampa just fine. Mike Alstott has always been a favorite player of mine. I even own an Alstott Tampa Bay jersey, which I guess I'll wear tomorrow because you have got to hand it to the Bucs. They came out and meant business from the beginning. Representin' the NFC South!

And on a side note, I think whoever designed Shania Twain's sci-fi boobie harness should get a vote or two for MVP. I bet it took power tools to get her out of it!

I also have a confession to make...after it became 34-3, I flipped over to Comedy Central and watched a pretty good chunk of High Fidelity, with John Cusack and Jack Black. Pretty damn good flick, if you ask me. And yes, I know about the book.

I got an unexpected cash birthday gift from the In-laws the other day, so I went out and bought the new DVD release of A Hard Day's Night.

The film has lost none of its manic energy and charm in this spiffed-up reissue. The Boys are there, in all their moptopped glory, little suspecting what lay ahead just a few short years later. The picture quality is crisp and clean, and looks nice. And the bonus features are manna from heaven for Beatles fans. Although the surviving Fabs didn't participate, they interview just about anybody else they could find that was part of the making of the movie, from the Beatles' tailor's son to Sir George Martin himself. I especially enjoyed the interviews with Klaus Voormann, longtime Beatle friend and John & Ringo's bassist on their best solo albums as well as an excellent illustrator and designer. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the actor that played the TV choreographer was none other than one Lionel Blair, who also played Harry Charms in Absolute Beginners!

But (like Pee-Wee Herman said in Big Adventure, "Everyone I know has a big but")...the sound is not so wonderful. Apparently someone decided it would be a good idea to lift the songs from the film's actual mono sound mix, remaster and punch them up, making them louder than the rest of the film's soundtrack. A minor quibble in the grander scheme of things, but it's very distracting. Between this and the atrocious remaster of John Lennon's solo album Mind Games, 2002 was just not a very good year for Beatles remixes.

Still, it's a very nice package, all things considered, and I'm happy happy happy to have it in my posession. I read somewhere where Let It Be will receive this treatment soon. While I have my concerns about the mix, and can't really say that I enjoyed the movie all that much, I'll still be looking forward to seeing it.

Johnny B's Fearless Football Predictions
current record: 7-3

Buccaneers vs. Raiders This is going to be a tough call. I like both teams, actually. When it comes right down to it, though, I don't think the Bucs have an answer for the WR trio of Rice, Brown and Porter, especially when the seasoned vet Rich Gannon is throwing to them. The Bucs defense is indeed awesome, but I feel that experience will make the difference. The Bucs will be able to move the ball on Oakland's soft defense, but I don't think they'll be able to outscore the Raiders' offense. My call: Raiders 20, Bucs 13.

Just finished watching Signs, the most recent effort from Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan. It concerns, as you may know, a recently widowed father of two (Mel Gibson) who lives on a Pennsylvania farm with his younger brother, and how they cope with their grief against the backdrop of what appears to be an alien invasion of Earth.

Shymalan works so hard at creating a feeling of unease and oppressive dread that it often makes his movie somewhat tedious...all the characters go around in a poker-faced daze, as if they were on Lithium. Even the infrequent humorous asides by an unusually restrained Gibson fall flat because of their deadpan delivery. The film is even shot in a dark and murky fashion, and not even in broad daylight is it truly bright. The whole alien invasion angle, in retrospect, is one which I wish he had gone in a different direction with...I think the movie would have been better off without it. There's a lot more suspense in the scene towards the end with an asthmatic child than in the earlier "alien in the pantry" episode. That being said, the film does create and sustain the mood Shyamalan desires, until the last 10 minutes or so which are straight out of a 1950s B-movie...Shyamalan obviously wishes to emulate Hitchcock, even to the point of making an effective cameo appearance, and that's a worthy ambition, but he should remember that the Master also had a sense of humor and a desire to entertain, and that's something Shyamalan lacks.

So like his Sophomore effort Unbreakable, Signs is a for the most part well done and often gripping film which I couldn't help but find fault with and wish it could have been better. I recommend it with reservations, and I think it will be interesting to see what he does next.

Now, if they had ended it with the Five Man Electrical Band singing their song which shares a title with this film, then that would have been something...!

Haven't taken one of those test type things for a while, so when I came upon the Wild Monk's Iraqi War Personality test while reading Gambling Gringo, I couldn't resist. Go see what you score.

For what it's worth, my overall score was 53, which placed me firmly in the center-Right category. I've never been one to be associated with the Right before, so I'm mildly surprised. On the rationality scale of 0 to 10, with totally irrational at 0, I scored a 9. That's nice to know.

COMICS REVIEWS
what I bought and what I thought, January 22, 2003


1. MUTANT, TEXAS: THE ADVENTURES OF SHERIFF IDA RED 4 Satisfying conclusion to a mostly fun miniseries. Jason Bone and Paul Dini make a heck of a good team. Some enterprising studio animation head should option this ASAP. A

2. DAREDEVIL 42 I guess this really is coming out weekly! While Bendis gets the most attention for his work on Powers and Ultimate Spider-Man, to me here's where he is doing his best work. Despite his annoying Wolverine-ish rendition of the Owl, (Owl-verine. Hee.) Alex Maleev turns in another outstanding art job. Somebody pass him a few copies of some Owl appearances by Gene Colan! A-

3. Y: THE LAST MAN 7 How the heck did this make top three? Can't really say, guess it just grabbed me more than it usually does, or maybe the rest of the stack wasn't all that great. But here it is just the same. B+

4. SLEEPER 1 Given Brubaker's somnambulent Catwoman work, let's hope this title doesn't turn out to be prophetic. The main highlight of this, which presupposes familiarity with the rank-and-file Wildstorm line of comics, particularly Gen13 and W.I.L.D.Cats (books I haven't picked up regularly since, oh, 1997), is the always excellent Sean Phillips art. The script is OK, but I think it's gonna take a few issues to grow on me and my patience is pretty thin these days. B

5. CATWOMAN 15 Ed Brubaker and Cameron Stewart's approach is so low key and deliberate that they can present shenanigans not seen in mainstream comics since the EC days (eyeball eating! Ye Gods!) and make them pedestrian. Stewart's art, so impressive early, has become as dull as his predecessor Doug Rader's was. A nice online illustration portfolio does not a first rate storyteller make, apparently. Looks like when Darwyn Cooke left, he took the magic with him. B-

A happy Bacardi Show Birthday to that Great American Songwriter, Warren Zevon. And here's hoping for many more.


Coming later- new comics reviews, football predictions, and more stuff. Just have had absolutely no time to sit down and collect my thoughts lately. Plus, I'm getting ready to watch Signs.

Another great cartoonist has passed on: Bill Mauldin.

From that mighty playa Chris Tabor comes this amusing story from the Drudge Report.

He just sends me this stuff 'cause he knows I'll mention his name.

Last night's Buffy was a bit anticlimactic after the big UberVamp battle in the last episode. Still, it was watchable– just not all that exciting.

Except as a hook to hang an show on, I fail to see the need to introduce yet another new Slayer, especially one that's as annoying as the new girl last night. If Dawn's not gonna be the next Slayer, which kinda makes me wonder what the spinoff show's gonna be about if not that, then this makes an already pointless character even more pointless.

I did like Xander's little speech at the end. Kinda touching, and makes me wonder where the time has gone since the first BTVS episode aired. The scenes in the demon bar were fun, and Andrew was funny in his whiny way. So last night's show wasn't a disaster, but they better pick up the pace soon or they'll lose whatever momentum they had going for them towards this season's finale...

I'm feeling a Frank Zappa mood coming on. I own several FZ albums, but I don't listen to them regularly, not like I do the Beatles or some other musicians. But when I get in the throes of Zappa fever, I listen to his stuff for days.

It's funny. There are times when I can listen to an album often over the course of the years, and without warning a track just jumps out at me, and I love it. Almost like I've never heard it before. That track is "The Orange County Lumber Truck" from FZ's Weasels Ripped My Flesh LP. It's a bluesy/rockish instrumental with a great Zappa solo and a clever arrangement, and it's pushing all the right buttons in my head right now. Readers with long memories may recall me writing about listening to the album the other day. OCLT has led me to dig out some of my other faves, like Hot Rats with the sublime "Peaches En Regalia" and most of disc one of Uncle Meat. Sadly, I can't listen to the majority of my Zappa albums like Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Apostrophe, Waka/Jawaka (I wish someone had set me down when I was a high school band trumpeter and made me listen to this one) and One Size Fits All since they're on vinyl and (as my longtime readers may once again recall) my turntable's still in the shop.

I love Peaches En Regalia. It's one of my all time favorite pieces of music by any composer. Can't say why exactly...it's just a wonderful, witty, mock-pompous little instrumental that makes me feel good when I hear it. I once suggested to my Senior classmates (as in High School classmates, not senior citizens, smart arse) that we use it as a graduation processional. The puzzled / disgusted looks I got were worth it. A while back I picked up a late Nineties compilation of some of Zappa's instrumental compositions, called Strictly Genteel, and I listen to it often. While it omits much (no Orange County, for example) it's still a very diverse collection.

Unfortunately, not a lot of post-1976 Zappa music interests me. After he left the auspices of the Bros. Warner, his music became slick and crass and without pretension, still well played and arranged but full of dumbass fratboy humor and Zappa's predilection to mock and ridicule those who he perceived as being less worthy somehow than he. Guess he did what he had to do to keep the money flowing. Lather had its moments, as did Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch (you remember, the one with "Valley Girl"), I suppose. Eventually, towards the end of his life, he abandoned guitar and rediscovered his muse a bit but the music he did, say post 1990 is still not all that interesting to me. That doesn't change, in my mind, the excellent stuff he did for about a ten year period, and I'll always regard him as one of the greats. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go put in Chunga's Revenge. Maybe something will jump out at me again. Look out!

Oh yeah-recommended reading in the Zappa vein- "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play" by Ben Watson. It's a great dissertation of all of FZ's albums, in a scholarly but not dry manner.

We've had pretty mild winters here in South Central Kentucky the last couple of years, so I guess now the other shoe is dropping, so to speak, along with the temperatures. Not only is it snowing like crazy right now, but the forecasters are calling for single digit temps for the next couple of evenings, and highs in the teens. Now, I've never been a real winter hater; my chief gripe is having to drive long distances to my job. I don't like Interstate travel when the roads are iced over, and the two lane highways I can take as an alternative aren't much better, usually. There's just something about risking my life to earn an already spent buck that I just can't get into. I know, I know, cry me a river and be glad you don't live in Maine or Alaska. Funny thing is, a while back, I kinda wanted to travel to Alaska, just to see what it was like. I was in a bit of an anti-social mood, as I am wont to be, and the fact that there are less people per capita in our Northern neighbor was really appealing to me. I think this winter has brought me to my senses. I used to have a little Viking in me, or so I thought, but these days the cold just cuts me to the bone. Guess it's all part of getting older. Right now, the idea of opening a printing shop in Hawaii sounds good. How many can there be?

But enough about me. What do you think about me? (I think that's a Bette Midler line, but I'm not sure...)

I'm just in one of those moods, I guess. There are lots of things I should probably be writing about, but I can't get my head wrapped around any of them, so I'm reduced to grousing about the weather. At this rate I may have to hit the ol' Topics Blog. Yeah, JB, that's gonna make the old Sitemeter skyrocket. While I'm bitching, here's something else– I left the comics I bought today in my office at work. Except for Sleeper 1, which I went back for after I got off this evening. Apparently I hadn't added it to my holds, and there were no copies on the rack but the super sweet Megan found the rack copies and put one back for me. Thanks, Megan.

Just in case anyone cares, here's what it appears I'll be buying tomorrow at the ol' comics shop, at least according to Diamond's Online Shipping List:


Mutant, Texas: Tales Of Sheriff Ida Red #4
Catwoman #15
Daredevil #42
Y: The Last Man #7

That's it! Well, I might have signed up for WIldstorm's Sleeper, by Brubaker and Sean Phillips, but I forget. We'll see tomorrow. Looks like another thankfully light week...better enjoy it while I can. Next week looks like I'll be getting 10 books– but you can't ever go by Diamond's shipping list until Monday afternoon.

For more on the great Al Hirschfeld, go here. I think I ran across this site while I was looking for the Beatle pieces featured below, but forgot about it until I saw the link at the amazing GoodShit. Never let it be said I didn't give credit where credit was due.

From the "Nobody Really Gives a Flying F*ck Except Marvel's Accountants" desk comes this little piece of legal shenanigans.



That's all I can do for now. Hopefully more later.

Yesterday...and Today.

Whilst looking nervously over my shoulder, reading Yahoo news, I just saw where the great cartoonist Al Hirschfeld has died. I always loved seeing his work in a multitude of places, and it's sad there will be no more. He was the master of the pen and brush line, and a witty caricacturist.

Man, I love Renee Zellweger. What a great picture. I really want to see this movie! Problem is, it's not playing within 100 miles of where I live. Patience, patience...did I mention that I absolutely love Renee Zellweger?

Bad news on the Firefly front. Seems just about every major TV network has passed on giving the show a new home, citing the cost of filming the series, the timing, and many other unfortunately valid reasons. Me, I wish that HBO or Showtime would pick it up. But it ain't looking good, boys and girls. Article here.

Here's another neato-keeno old Bob Hope cover featuring Super-Hip. Number one hundred. I actually used to have this issue, but I don't remember much about it. I seem to recall Bob's dog Harvard-Harvard talking to then-President Lyndon Johnson, but I'm not sure.

Stole this scan from an eBay auction. I passed because it just looked a *little* more beat up than I'd like. Beggars shouldn't be choosers, though, should they?

Johnny B's Fearless Football Predictions
current record: 5-3

Buccaneers at Eagles In this battle of fierce defenses, don't expect much in the way of scoring. That being said, I like Tampa's chances of scoring on Philly more than I like Philly's chances of scoring on Tampa. Two key players for both teams: of course, Donovan McNabb (and perhaps the inconsistent James Thrash) and for the Bucs: Mike Alstott. Alstott must be able to help the Bucs control the clock and keep the ball out of McNabb's hands, 'cause he's too versatile and resourceful to stifle for long. I know all about Tampa's cold weather history, and I remember that Philly dispatched the Bucs earlier this season. I'm just going on instinct, and it tells me that Tampa won't go 0-4 in playoff championship games. Buccaneers, 16-13. Sorry, Theresa.

Titans and Raiders. I have come to respect the Titans a bit more this year, because of their impressive turnaround on defense and despite their propensity for flukey wins. McNair is a formidable foe, healthy or not– but I like the experience of the Raiders and the triumverate of Gannon, Rice and Brown. Raiders, 27-20.

There's a great discussion about the nature of autobiographical comics vs. comics that tell biographical stories with fictional characters over at DC Comics Message Boards' normally moribund 100% message board, involving Paul Pope as well as a couple of well-spoken 100% m.b. regulars. Tell 'em Stately Wayne sent ya if you choose to comment!

In observance of the spirit, if not the letter, of the anti-war protesting going on today here's a link to an amusing site named Masturbate For Peace. Give Peace a Chance, indeed.

Whilst looking at the ol' Sitetracker this morning, I saw where someone had done a Google search for Johnny Bacardi! My fame is spreading far and wide. I'm really a little nonplussed by that...it makes me proud in a weird sort of way. Welcome, O Google searcher. Hope you found what you were looking for, and hope you found enough to want to return!

One of the things I like to do, when I can, is surf around on the pay cable channels late at night in hope of catching some obscure gem of a movie that blows me away. In the past, films like Freeway, Hijacking Hollywood, Orgazmo, and several others have made my late nights a bit more enjoyable. Last night, I started out watching A Beautiful Mind, but then noticed where a movie named Comic Book Villians was coming on about an hour later. Mind comes on a few more times this month, so I decided to check out CBV. How could I resist with a title like that? It seems like I remember hearing about it before, but I had forgotten about it by last night...

The basic storyline is about two competing comics shops, one a dingy dump operated by a greasy, stereotypical Comic Book Guy named Raymond and another, across town, that's clean and nice and operated by a husband-and-wife team that knows nothing about comics. They even sell, in their shop, horror of horrors...stickers and Magic cards. The "fun" begins when this fellow who shops at both stores comes in and tells them both about a old lady in town whose son just died...and left behind a mother lode of a comics collection from the Golden Age to today. The husband and wife team see this as a way that they could make a fortune, afford to have a baby, buy a new house, and all that, while Raymond wants it for the glory owning it would bring (not to mention the cash from a few good books he'd sell). Problem is, the lady doesn't want to sell them under any circumstances. Their attempts to coerce her to give up the book make up the bulk of the movie, until things turn ugly at the end. Kinda reminded me of a particularly nasty episode of the Eltingville Club, it did.

Villians is quite a schizo movie. Not so much about comics as it is about dysfunctional people, it begins as a lightweight, humorous film populated by the requisite number of freaks and geeks that comes to mind when thinking about comics and comic collectors. Then about three-quarters of the way through it goes all Heathers on us and becomes a violent black comedy before it's done. The shift in tones is jarring, and while I did chuckle in places, I wish that it hadn't gone that way. There is a satisfying subplot going on about a young, nerdy fellow who is loyal to Raymond but is having second thoughts about continuing in the collecting lifestyle. He eventually befriends the old woman, and without giving too much away, gets a great reward at the end for doing the right thing.

After all is said and done, I enjoyed CBV, but I had a lot of reservations about it.It's well acted, and has a quirky cast that includes Donal Logue as Raymond (you may remember him as MTV's Jimmy the Cab Driver), American Pie's Natasha Lyonne, and Cary Elwes, in a role that's unusual for him. It goes without saying that it perpetuates most of the stereotypes about comic collectors. I don't know, these may be true. I don't shop at comics stores in large cities; I can't afford to travel to the major conventions. In my insular collecting experience, most of the people I have known that collect are pretty much well adjusted human beings (as well adjusted as one can be these days), with "real" jobs, mortgages, wives, girlfriends, families and so on. This certainly applies to me. I know it's easy visual shorthand to visualize comic book collectors as skinny/fat, sweaty, nerdy misfits, living in their Mother's basement, but it still bugs me to see this presented as the norm. In the film CBV, only two characters escape the stereotype; one's a bit of a snake in the grass and the other is a homicidal maniac. So, like the watchable but disappointing Unbreakable, don't expect to see the comics world portrayed in a real positive light. But unlike Unbreakable, it actually goes to the trouble to use real comics in its shops and real comic panels in its opening credits. It doesn't try to pass off some unknown hack for real comic art.

One reason for its authenticity, I suppose is that the whole thing was written and directed by James Robinson, most notably writer of the remarkable DC book Starman. Of course, the movie's dialogue doesn't sound like Robinson's often odd comic book dialogue, and that's a little surprising, but then again, who knows how many hands it went through before filming. Still, it's a not bad directorial debut for the guy, and I hope he gets to make more eventually. Just with a more consistent tone, fer Chrissakes.

I don't know if any of you watched that somewhat overblown and cheesy but still entertaining Disco Ball TV special last night, but I do know one thing: even after all these years, KC and the Sunshine Band rocks the house. I kid you not. I just wanted to say.

Added a new, more snazzy looking weather button at bottom right, which I found at Easy Bake Coven. I was also proud and honored to be added to her blogroll, even though the only comment I've left so far was one calling her on a nitpicky Captain Beefheart mistake . Go and check out her site! Now!

We had about 3 inches of snow around here yesterday, by the way. The state road crews were actually on the ball for once, so I didn't have too much trouble getting to and from work. They're calling for more next week. Can life get any better? :(

It's a Lot Less Johnny Bacardi Than a Hover.
Bring out the Johnny Bacardi!
Dude, You're Getting a Johnny Bacardi!
Pure Johnny Bacardi.
Life Should Taste As Good As Johnny Bacardi.
Doing It Right Before Your Johnny Bacardi.

My favorite: You've Got Questions. We've Got Johnny Bacardi.

Just a few of the side-splitting results I got when I entered my nom de plume at the Advertising Slogan Generator, which I found links to on several blogs of note. Now I get to join in the Slogan madness.

What's a "Hover"?

Hey there hi there ho there.

Thanks again to everyone for all the nice birthday wishes. Kinda gets an old man...choked...up...*deep breath* I don't usually make a big deal about my birthday, especially the older I get, but everyone, in "real life" as well as the Blogosphere has been wonderful. One of the nicest gifts I got was a big wind chime. I kinda like wind chimes, and we haven't had any for a long time.

Ever get in one of those ruts where you have a hard time thinking about stuff to write? That's what I've been going through lately. Plus, they're clamping down on our internet usage a bit at work so that reduces the opportunity for spur-of-the-moment rambling. We're just in a really busy period right now, hopefully things will become more relaxed later on. Hopefully. So if I'm not exactly being prolific around here, please bear with me and check back from time to time...

While reading Pulse (see link at right), I found a story about the latest from Andi Watson, a collection of his previously published Geisha stories. I already have them, so I won't be buying, but if you haven't read them, this is an outstanding opportunity to do so. I really like Watson's clean, expressionistic art style and I envy his brush line very much. If you've ever tried inking your pencils with a brush then you know exactly what I mean.

Read the column by Steven Grant over at Comic Book Resources (again, link at right) a while ago. I haven't been checking it out faithfully, especially lately, but it's always a good read when I do and if you care about comics/TV/misc then you should give it a look when you're in the mood to read something new.

I've been reading a real book lately, too–I'm about halfway through Stan Cornyn's Exploding-The Highs, Hits, Hype...etc" (It's a long title). Cornyn, a former exec from the beginning of the Warner Bros. Records label, writes a wry history of not only the Warner Records company, but also its satellites Atlantic, Elektra, Asylum, and Reprise...much of the details of the mergers, acquisitions, sales records, and so on can be pretty dull, but Cornyn has a dry, witty style which makes it much easier. And many of the characters involved, both executives and artists alike, are brought to life in often humorous fashion. I've always had a fascination for the Warner/Reprise product, especially from the late 60s–early 70s, and there was a lot of behind the scenes stuff thatI was completely unaware of till now. And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, but Cornyn's book is very entertaining.

On a related note, back in the early 70s, Warners/Reprise put out a trade publication called "Circular", which never came out on newstands but was distributed to record stores, rock magazine publishers, and others of that ilk...man, I'd love to get my hands on some of those. I can't find them on eBay, and web searches turn up nothing. I know they exist out there somewhere...! Anybody ever seen one?

Music today: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention-Weasels Ripped My Flesh(one of my all time fave album covers, the music within less so), Adrian Belew-Young Lions, Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Nick Drake-Five Leaves Left.

While munching on birthday cake, here are

COMICS REVIEWS!
what I bought and what I thought January 15,2003

1. LUCIFER 34: I can imagine Mike Carey's plot outlines looking like family trees; it seems that for every character he's inherited or created, he's formulated a half dozen possible stories for them. This, boys and girls, is the hallmark of a great writer...and I honestly don't think anyone's doing it better anywhere right now, and that includes Alan Moore. Gross and Kelly also turn in an outstanding art job this time around. One thing I'm a little puzzled by is the alias that the new Solomon character took for himself: Douid. I don't get it. Anybody? A

2. ULTIMATES 8: Half Matrix inspired action story, half "let's hold up and see where we are character-wise" story. Superbly drawn as always. Here, as in Hawkman, I have my difficulties accepting a character shooting another with an arrow that accurately at very close range. But I'm not a bowman, so what do I know? A

3. STRANGERS IN PARADISE 55: Moore continues to dangle that decade-old carrot of "will they or won't they" in front of my nose, and despite my misgivings and my irritation at his pretensions (thankfully kept to a minimum this time out) I continue to trot along. However, just like with X-Files, I'm beginning to cease to care...and I'm really getting that restless feeling. B+

And now for that Very Special Bacardi Show birthday greeting that you've all been waiting for. Happy Birthday...Sade!


Aw, OK. Some of you have guessed it anyway, thanks to that I Wish, You Wish thing. It's my birthday. I'm 43 going on 80 today. Happy Birthday to me. Wooo! Now I gotta get back to work.

And thanks very much to those who have wished me a happy b-day so far!

I'm still a bit new to this adding banners with links stuff. I've added the Cavort button at right, which I found over at da Goddess' site, and I've also joined up with BookCrossing, which I found over at Gambling Gringo's place. Whether or not I add a ton of books to my page is still up in the air, but you could go, join, and participate to your heart's content. Hope they work correctly.

Weather forecast for tomorrow is anywhere from 2 to 8 inches of snow, depending on where you get your info. Joy. I like snow OK, but I don't like to drive 35 miles on the Interstate to my job in it. People go fucking berserk around here when there's snow in the forecast. Guess you can't blame them– it really doesn't snow around here all that often.

Big, big Bacardi Show Birthday announcement tomorrow. I see you tremble with...





...anticipation! Wow. Two Rocky Horror references in one day.

Thumbed through the latest Comics Journal today at the old comics shop. The Great Escape, Bowling Green, KY in case you were wondering. Anyway, I read the always interesting Funnybook Roulette column in which R. Fiore makes a case for Frank Miller's Dark Knight Strikes Again, a book that I considered a contemptable work by a creator who has nothing but contempt for mainstream comics. I think I gave it my only F when I reviewed #3 several months ago on the DCMBs. It just came across to me as a charming little "fuck you" to anyone who still likes mainstream DC books and characters, and a poorly illustrated and garishly colored one to boot. I resented coughing up the ten bucks in the hopes that it would get better with every issue. Anyway, now this Fiore fellow comes along and while he doesn't praise it extravagantly, he brings up a very valid perspective which I hadn't really considered, that of Miller using these characters to make a statement about art vs. commerce and its place in society. This is probably not an accurate interpretation of his article, please, please go read it for yourself. I only spent a couple of minutes reading it. Anyway, that's what I always liked about the Journal; while I often was at odds with the viewpoints expressed I was also often challenged to consider something from another, more well-considered point of view. And that, boys and girls, is how we learn things. Do I like DK2 any better? Nah. It was still too expensive to be so slovenly in its execution. But I think I understand it a bit more now. I'd give it a C+ if I was inclined towards do-overs.

Music today: Drivin 'n' Cryin-Wrapped in Sky, Meshell Ndegeocello-Bitter, Indigo Girls-Become You, Lou Reed-Berlin.

A little norts spews: my White Sox made a big trade today, obtaining 20 game winner Bartolo Colon from the Montreal Expos in a deal that also involved the Yankees. This gives the Sox a proven starting pitcher, something that's been in short supply on the South Side the last couple of years. They gave up Jeff Liefer and Rocky Biddle, among others, and that might have been a little premature...but you have to give up to get.

Another link to an interesting article by John LeCarre in the Times. London Daily, I assume. Sent by Groovalicious Chris Tabor. Whatta guy. Makes you cry. Und I did.

A happy Bacardi Show Birthday to Dada Delta Blues man, poet and painter Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart. Photo stolen from Dave Lang's tribute page.

Over at Ain't Too Proud to Blog (another cool name), Robyn has declared today to be Bloggin' Lovefest day. Better late than never, I'll play and send out mad love to my bloggin' homies. Yo.

I've only been doing this since October, but I've already met several splendiferously shibby people out there. I don't think I could narrow it down to just one, so I'll list a few favorites and sincerely hope I don't leave out anybody deserving of mention or offend anyone.

Laura over at Bloggety-Blog-Blog-Blog, who's been super nice, devoted to Aquaman and is still nice to me even though I'm not that big a fan of the Sea King; she was the first to bloglist me, validating my existence in the blogosphere;

Joanie "da Goddess", who exhibits all the ascribed traits of her namesake, was one of the first to link to me, and is just plain old sweet;

Devra over at Blue Streak, who has dropped by occasionally to leave a nice comment or two;

Bill Sherman, the Pop Culture Gadabout, always on hand to provide cogent commentary on many of the tangents I go off on;

Brendan of Letting Loose with the Leptard, always reliable for excellent musical commentary;

Michele of A Small Victory, who's a good sport and writes a very, very good blog, despite her jihad towards Ted Rall. Which is OK, this being America and all.

Also there's Anne, AKA Czelticgirl, who stops by these parts upon occasion and is welcome always. Sorry I got your name wrong before!

and Theresa of Dandelion Wine, who's relatively new to the Show but can always be counted on for some great feedback. Another really nice personage, and she's a football fan to boot. It's all good.

These are the bloggers I've had the most give-and-take with since I've started. I hope to have same with many more before I'm done. That's my contribution to the Bloggin' Lovefest! Woooo!

Brushes With Greatness, part one

When I was 18 or so, I saw an ad in (I think) the Comics Journal. It advertised the opportunity to join a new club that was started by none other than the legendary artist Wally Wood. For $15, a mere pittance, you could receive copies of his newest, self-published works, a membership card, a newsletter updating you on upcoming projects, and the coup de grace, an original Wood sketch of your choice. I couldn't resist; I signed up immediately and sent my check for fifteen bucks. Being an aspiring comic book artist, I couldn't resist the opportunity to write one of my art heroes...I told him of my ambitions and asked if he would be willing to review some samples of my stuff. Oh the chutzpah of 18. Anyway, below you can read his reply, as well as see the envelope, membership card, and cancelled check.

Needless to say, Woody was a far better artist than he was a prognosticator. What I eventually received was the latest collections of Sally Forth, the Wizard King, and Cannon, all B&W and gorgeously drawn. What I didn't receive was my frigging original sketch. Oh well, sobered by the tone of his response, I never got around to sending him any of my art...too bad, I understand he was in failing health by then and probably could have used the laugh. A couple of years later, he was dead, but I have still held on to all the swag I got as a member of the Friends of Odkin and wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China.

For all of you who like to think you're hardcore Simpsons fans: I give you the Simpsons Quiz. If you can answer them all in less than a week, you're a better man than I, Gunga Din.

For those of us to whom writing just does not come naturally, here's the Topics Blog. You just had to know somebody would do it sooner or later.

Found at Tequila Mockingbird, who chooses to ignore me (like many of the blogs I've chosen to list lately) but has such a cool name that I just gotta list her anyway.

This incredibly sweet poster was designed by the talented Mr. Mik Cary. Wish I could have gone to the show...

Some interesting reading from Our Man Tabor.

Paging Professor X or the DEO...

Here's an interesting little news item from the English version of Pravda. Wonder how close this fellow lives to Chernobyl?

Thanks to Mike Cary for passing this on.

Looks like a thankfully light week for me, comics wise, according to the latest Diamond shipping list. On Wednesday, I'll be picking up:

Lucifer 34
Ultimates 8
and
Strangers in Paradise v3 55

That's it! Of course I will review them when I get the chance. You have a Johnny Bacardi Show guarantee on that.

Just added, although I've been aware of it for a few weeks now: author William Gibson's blog page. You'd think that if anyone could write a good one, he could. See link at right.

I've also added a great many new blogs by other, not so well-known but no less interesting individuals. Look at right and investigate. And if any of you are reading this, feel free to add me. Just because I'm not on that high-falutin blogroller thingamabob doesn't mean I don't need some lovin'.

Sad news: Mickey Finn, Marc Bolan's percussionist during the glory days of T.Rex, is dead. Maybe I should hunt up Dewayne Gardner and have another wake like we did at age 17 when Bolan died.

Between today and yesterday is like a million years.

Link via Warren Ellis.

While staying up late the other night watching TV, I caught another one of my "eye magnet" movies. You know, when you're flipping and you run across one, no matter how many times you've seen them before you watch. And watch. Films like (for me) Snatch, the Fifth Element, Pollock, The Hudsucker Proxy. A couple of nights ago, another: Absolute Beginners.

You may be familiar with it; it's a 1986 big screen musical adaptation of the Colin McInnes book about teenage lifestyles and race riots in late 50's & 60s Britain. I've never read the book, and I understand that those who have and loved it were alternately outraged and disappointed in the film. Being unfamiliar with McInnes' novel, all I can do is take the film at face value, and I flat out love three quarters of it.

Directed by then-hot music video director Julien Temple, it's just one visually amazing set piece after another, with a great, eccentric cast, led by Patsy Kensit and some inspired stunt casting like those stalwarts of RCA's glitter years, David Bowie and the Kinks' Ray Davies. Early on, at least, it's about a young photographer named Colin, played by one Eddie O'Connell (who somehow managed to avoid doing much of anything else filmwise of note after AB). Colin wants to maintain his integrity as an artist as well as avoid exploiting the teenage scene from which he's been making a meager living taking snapshots of, but he is also deeply in love with beautiful blonde "Crepe" Suzette (Kensit), who has aspirations for wealth and fame that don't extend to staying in Colin's world. Eventually Suzette, through her job as a fashion designer assistant, manages to attract the interest of Henley, the unctuous gallery owner, and they become engaged. Henley, however, is an aging homosexual who doesn't love her– he wishes to marry Suzette as a front. He's even open to Colin and Suzette seeing each other on the sly after a while; of course, Colin wants no part of it. Feeling dumped by Suzette, Colin is determined to win her back and eventually winds up involved with some of the more corrupt characters in London society including one Vendice Partners (Bowie), a real estate developer who is behind the effort to forcibly eject the minorities living in the London slums where Colin lives so he can build new apartments. Eventually, racial tensions reach the boiling point and a riot breaks out, and all gets sorted out before it's over.

The description doesn't really do it justice...one of the highlights of the movie is the scene in which Colin goes to a party at Partners' on the invitation of Partners' wife, gossip columnist Dido Lament (played by the ubersexy Anita Morris). Of course, Colin sees Suzette there with Henley, gets very drunk, and has this great drunken conversation with himself, in a mirrored cul-de-sac, while some pumping jump-jive music (the great "Sellin' Out) by Slim Gaillard plays in the background and Dido mixes a martini by wedging the shaker between the heel and sole of her seven inch stilettos! Colin takes a swing at Henley, misses, and lands on the spinning floor humiliated. After he picks himself up he encounters Bowie, who wishes to hire him to be his photographer. They have a huge production number, dancing on a immense typewriter...it's one of the most intoxicating 15-20 minutes of film I've ever seen. And believe me, much more happens before and during this particular sequence.

Another highlight is the song by Ray Davies, who plays Colin's father. Colin hates to come home, because his shrewish mother has turned their home into a boarding house and he pities his father who almost seems to be a tenant in his own home. Ray gets to do an Arthur-ish ditty called "Quiet Life", while chaos breaks out in the house all around him as he does his household chores. Most of the song is performed on a set which is a cutaway view of the house itself, where we can see everything that goes on in all the rooms at once. It's an amazing scene.

Unfortunately, the movie grinds to a halt with the climactic race riots. It's probably very much in keeping with the spirit of the book, I can't say, but it's so different in tone to the rest of the film that it's extremely jarring and after you've watched it once you won't care to see it again. It's as stolid and forthright as the other three-quarters of the film is imaginative and exciting.

Heck, if nothing else it's worth seeing to watch Anita Morris mix that martini. I searched high and low on the internet to find a picture of it. If you haven't seen AB, I recommend it highly–it's one of the most underrated musicals ever. It's inexplicably unavailable on DVD, but well worth checking out on Showtime, if you get it, or on VHS.

For the first time in ages, I placed an order with Columbia House, which I received yesterday. What I got was the latest from the Indigo Girls, titled Become You, This Is Where I Belong: The Songs of Ray Davies and the Kinks, and Lou Reed's Berlin.

I've been an admirer of the Girls' music for many years now, beginning with their great Rites of Passage album, where they learned to garnish their earnest folk with Irish instruments, electric guitar, strings, and so on. Added a few more colors to their palette, if you will, and each subsequent release has been outstanding.

The Kinks tribute features many muscians I like, such as Ron Sexsmith, Fountains of Wayne, and Matthew Sweet, along with a couple of friends of mine, Nashville musicians Tommy Womack and Bill Lloyd, who chip in with a great collaborative effort on one of my favorite Kinks tunes, "Picture Book". Name dropper? Me? Plus, it has humorous liner notes written by Mr. Davies himself.

Lou's Berlin album, about drugs, dysfunctional relationships, S & M and dementia in that fabled city, is one that I came to love (as much as you can love it) back in the 70s. It's not a happy fun record by any means, but it's gripping and often lovely in places, and I recommend it to anyone not on lithium. Since album cover design and packaging are a passion of mine, I must note that the CD release has replaced the original, distinctive and quite beautiful in its own way handwritten script that was used on the LP for all the type including lyrics, credits, and so on with a script-looking font that is intended to simulate handwriting, for better readability, I assume. Problem is, the font is still too small and is very hard to read, especially in the case of the inside booklet notes. So what was the point? The artificial font is nowhere nearly as good looking as the original handwriting, and is no more readable.

Oh well, that's me in a nutshell. ("How did I get in this nutshell? It's so cramped and small here in this nutshell!") There's just no pleasing me sometimes.

As you can probably infer from the wedding picture below, I was not really into the Disco lifestyle. I was more of the stoner-in-an-army-jacket type who wouldn't dance unless I was held at gunpoint or so drunk I didn't know what I was doing. So you probably deduced that I wasn't much of a Bee Gees fan back in the day. I just couldn't relate to most Disco music. Hate is a strong word, especially since I was receptive to dance music- Sly and Parliament were faves of mine in my teenage years. But most disco just got on my nerves. One reason was because of my job at the time, in the prepress of a large printing factory where they broadcast the local top 20 FM radio station all day and all night over the ceiling speakers. We had to listen to it, you couldn't turn it completely down...I got fed up once and cut the wires, but then I got nervous about getting in trouble so I spliced them back together. This was at the height of the Disco era, and the Bee Gees got constant airplay. I also think it was just that awful Robin Gibb falsetto, with his fricking hand constantly over his ear, being played over and over and over on the radio that I couldn't stand. "Tragedy" was the worst by far, with Robin squealing "loving you, loving you, luuuu-vvviiiing yooooouuu" a dozen times in eight hours for months on end. I often fantasized about taking pencils and jamming them in my ears just to make it stop. But really, when it came down to it I was never one of those "Disco Sucks" clods, and eventually I came to appreciate the music of Chic and KC, among others, but it took me a long time. And I never looked good in a tapered silk shirt, either. Amusing aside-the first movie my wife and I saw on a date was Saturday Night Fever. Oh dear.

However, the passage of time and the (presumed) subsequent maturity have caused me to re-evaluate the music of the Bros. Gibb over the years. The older, pre-disco stuff is somewhat interesting, and when you get right down to it (and they're not being played on a radio at work that you have to listen to all day long) "Jive Talkin'", "Night Fever", "More Than a Woman", and others are damned catchy and pretty darn good R&B slash Disco slash Pop. I've even got mp3s of "Jive" and "Woman" on this very computer. So it is with a little sadness that I read about the death of Maurice Gibb today. You know, the bearded one who wore hats to cover up his shiny head. Now whether or not this means no more Bee Gees I cannot say, and I can't say it will affect my life one way or another if it does...but it's always a tragedy to lose one of the giants from back in the day, and make no mistake, the Bros. Gibb qualify. So requiescat in pace, Mr. Gibb.

Mr. and Mrs. Bacardi, 24 years ago today. Get a load of those sideburns.

For those who believe in omens, my turntable is malfunctioning again. Went bad right before the Falcons-Eagles game. It worked for about 5 hours after I got it back from the shop, and now it's playing at the wrong speed and is inconsistent about when it will come on when I lift the tonearm.

Sigh.

Now I gotta take it back to the shop and see if the guy thinks he can do anything with it. If he can't, or wants to charge me again, then I'm going to take it and toss it in the path of an 18-wheeler.

Here's a late suggestion for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar: Joe Nedney.

This game reminded me of one reason why I dislike the Titans. They never seem to beat anybody conclusively; their games are always decided by controversy. I know I'm generalizing here, but if the game ends in a flukey play of some sort, it's always a good bet that the Titans are involved. But don't get me wrong...I realize that the Steelers lost yesterday because of their inability to contain Steve McNair. He was, and I think will continue to be, a difference-maker for the Flaming Thumbtacks. I'm sure all the good old boys in Tennessee are thrilled to death with that.

And while I'm not happy with the outcome, I gotta say I'm pretty proud of my Falcons. They went in and hung tough with the Eagles last night, despite losing half of their starting defensive backfield ...and if they could have just eliminated many of the stupid penalties they committed in the first half, the outcome might have been very different. Mike Vick has GOT to work on learning how and when to throw the ball away. If they brought their A game to Green Bay, they brought their B minus game to Philly. Typical for the Jekyll-Hyde team Atlanta's always been. If we can just get a couple of players on both sides of the line in the off-season, who knows– the Falcons might just acheive back-to-back winning seasons for the first time.

New Christgau Consumer Guide up over at the Villiage Voice.

Spent most of my day today looking for a couple of used vehicles. The fellow I work for at the radio station also owns a car lot, and I'd like to think he will give me a decent deal on something. My truck is in the shop more often as not these days, as is my daughter's; my son's car was rearended a month or two ago and got totalled, leaving him carless, and Mrs. Bacardi's car has a lot of problems, like oil leaking into the coolant for starters. I'm looking at giving my son my Rodeo to drive until he can get steady employment and theoretically get his own transportation, getting two newer vehicles for me and Mrs. B, and getting Abby's fixed until she can pay on something for herself. Motor vehicles are the bane of our existence, it's sad to say. Can't afford to pay on a new one or keep an old one on the road. Guess if I'd stop buying comics I could afford a Porsche or something. Maybe if I put one of those keen Amazon.com honor system buttons somewhere on my site, all of you out there would help me buy new cars!

Other than that, I've been spending most of the afternoon catching up on all the vinyl I haven't been able to listen to for over a year now, including two or three I won on eBay but haven't been able to play like Frank Sinatra's Watertown, Curved Air's Phantasmagoria (check out that cool cover above), and Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention's The Grand Wazoo. Am I eclectic or what? I've also given spins to Graham Central Station's Mirror, Maria Muldaur's Sweet Harmony, Roger Glover's soundtrack to the Butterfly Ball and Grasshopper's Feast, Sparks' Propaganda, Mary Hopkin's Earth Song/Ocean Song, and Godley & Creme's Ismism.

Hope you're telling the truth, Pete.

Damn. Wycheck just scored, shooting my score prediction down. The Steelers are coming up small on defense, and McNair is gutting it out as usual.

That's all for now, more later maybe.

Johnny B's Fearless Football Picks

Continuing a grand tradition I began last weekend, here's what I see for the upcoming games:

Steelers vs. Titans For various reasons, I've never been much of a Titans fan, despite the fact that they play only an hour and a half away. This year, I've kinda come to respect them since they opened up their offense and have groomed a hungry young defense. I see this being a low scoring contest, and I like the Steelers' ability to score on the Flaming Thumbtacks a lot more than vice versa...I'll take Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress every time over Derrick Mason and an anonymous cast of hundreds of WRs. Steelers, 17-13.

Falcons vs. Eagles Well, I picked against my boys last weekend, and they rewarded me with a victory that will go down in franchise history. I'm tempted to take Philly for that reason alone. For Atlanta to pull off another upset, it's essential that they are able to run the ball with Dunn, Vick and Duckett against a Eagles D that is every bit as strong and quick as Tampa Bay...and we all know how well Atlanta ran against Tampa Bay. So while I fervently hope they prove me wrong again, I gotta go with the Iggles 24-17. Damn.

49ers vs. Buccaneers Speaking of the Bucs, if they can get any QB play at all they should be equal to the task of shutting down the Niners. They can hurry-up all they want, but Jeff Garcia and Terrell "Jackass" Owens will find the speedy Bucs D a lot tougher to solve than the poise-less Giants. And bet your ass the officiating will be better, too. Bucs 27-17.

Jets vs. Raiders Boy, everybody's jumping on that J-E-T-S bandwagon, aren't they? They do kinda have that team of destiny look about 'em, no doubt, but Rich Gannon, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown will be the difference-makers, methinks, and the Men in Black have just enough D to stifle if not shut down Pennington and the young Jets receivers. I see a shootout. Raiders 35-28.

There you have it! So far, I'm 2-2, and I should have been 3-1 if not for boneheaded officiating and dumbass Giant defensive backs. Remember, these prognostications are for entertainment purposes only. Bet this way at your own risk.

Oh happy day! My turntable is fixed! With any luck, I'll go get it tomorrow.

My enthusiasm for DC's Legion book has dimmed slightly, but it's still one of my favorite reads and it looks like it's going in an interesting direction with a spiffy new art team. Read more about it over at Pulse.

Here's some interesting Beatles news.

Glad it's from the Let It Be sessions; I was afraid maybe some lost Gone Troppo or WIngs at the Speed of Sound-period tapes had been recovered.

COMICS REVIEWS
Week of January 8, 2003- what I bought and what I thought!

1. DAREDEVIL 41 The old axiom that you get what you pay for doesn't hold true this time around. I paid almost two and a half dollars more last week for a comic that wasn't half as good as this one. Fun story, nicely dialogued as usual by Bendis, and very well drawn by Alex Maleev, except, curiously enough, for his terrible rendition of the Owl which makes him look like Wolverine after Jenny Craig and a three day bender. I've always had a soft spot for the Stilt Man character...one of the first comics I ever owned was Daredevil 8, above, which sported great Wally Wood art, especially the cover. He's used very well here. The Stilt Man, not Wood. A

2. 100 BULLETS 41 The usual outstanding Azz/Risso story and art, giving us more Trust/Minutemen puzzle pieces on the one hand, while giving us a clever counterstory on the other. A

3. FABLES 9 More Fractured Fairy Tales, this time out wrapping up the second story arc in a somewhat rushed fashion and with a surprising cliffhanger at the end. I've never been much of a fan of Mark Buckingham's pencils; as a penciller, I've always thought he made a good inker. But he serves the story well, and Steve Leialoha's inks give him a Kirbyish flavor. A-

4. POWERS 27 Another consistently excellent book. The pottymouthed super-hero satire at the beginning was amusing, but I'm sick to death of super hero parodies- nothing makes an easier target. As for the rest of the story, so low key that it seems like almost nothing of consequence happens, it gets by on characterization, which is Bendis' saving grace. A-

5. VERTIGO POP: LONDON 3 Milligan & Bond's little morality play takes some interesting twists and turns, and not in directions that I thought it would go. Good on them. A-

6. JSA 44 This seems to be a week for rushed finales. The gimmicky resolution to the whole Egypt thing was kind of a letdown, but now that it's out of the way we can get into what I want to see, the Doc Fate meets Gemworld meets...a surprising return character at the end. B

7. HAWKMAN 11 I've really tried to like this book, really I have. But the scripts, while they try hard, never really rise above standard superheroics. Whatever the reason, you can't fault Rags Morales, who draws these turgid events with energy and style. B-

8. KILLRAVEN 4 If I didn't love the McGregor/Russell 70s version of this character so much, I might think more of this well-intentioned but feckless revival attempt, and actually, if one looks at it objectively, this is the best issue yet. But as a series it's an aesthetic failure, for reasons that are intangible, like heart and soul and emotional investment which I usually always seemed to get from McGregor & Russell but are beside the point for Davis. For him, this is a vehicle to demonstrate the he can write as well as he can draw, and nothing more. Problem is, he can't. C+

Stolen shamelessly from the incredible GoodShit: The Top Ten Nude Scenes of Year 2002. Enjoy.

Me, I'm thinking I gotta rent Human Nature with Patricia Arquette. I still haven't gotten over her in those clunky high heels in Goodbye Lover.

Coldplay's "The Scientist" from their latest album "A Rush of Blood to the Head" is one of the most flat-out lovely songs I've heard in what seems like forever. Even if he does channel Bono singing "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" a bit at the end.

Also wanted to pass this on: You may recall that thanks to the nice folks at Blogarama, I won a $50 online gift certificate. After giving it some thought, here's what I bought: The Essential Johnny Cash and Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes and Hustlers of the Warners Music Group.

When I was a wee lad (refer to my Christmas Day picture in the archive), my Dad was a league bowler. I went with him often and while he bowled, I would beg him for dimes so I could play records on the huge jukebox they had at the alley. One song which grabbed me and wouldn't let go was "Ring of Fire" by the Man In Black (no, not the Shadow, Johnny Cash!). My Dad got tired of giving me dimes, I think, and went out and bought me the 45, which I played almost as much as Meet The Beatles on my little blue record player. Johnny Cash and the Beatles pointed me towards the road to ruin. Unfortunately, I don't have any Cash records, not even the fine Rubin-produced ones of the last few years, and this is my first step towards rectifying this situation.

Also, I have always had a lifelong (well, since 1970 or so anyway) fascination for the artists, look (graphics), and feel of Warner Bros./Reprise Records product, especially from the period 1967-1975. This book is a history of sorts about those days, and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

And that's how I spent my unexpected windfall. I'm sure you would have done differently. Unfortunately, fifty bucks doesn't go a long way, especially when you're trying to qualify for free shipping, necessitating that you pay Amazon prices for everything.

While I have my reservations about the Grammys as a reliable form of recognition for music, it's still gratifying to see Norah Jones ring up four nominations. As the old saying goes, "even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while". Here's an article in today's USA Today, in case you haven't read it. She's Ravi frigging Shankar's daughter. That blows my mind.

In case you're wondering where the heck I've been today, well, it's none of your gosh darn business.

Aww, c'mon, I'm only joshin' around. I took off work today to help my daughter through the complicated process of Freshman orientation and registering for classes. Today was her OAR day at Western Ky. University. We also helped her move into her dorm room, met her roommate's parents and just generally did the parental thing. They've been busy on the Hill since I was enrolled there a scant two years ago. I spent a great deal of time looking around at where they had done construction here and there. We are now faced with the dreaded "empty nest" syndrome; we're coping so far. It's been three hours.

Comics reviews tomorrow. I'm tired.

I had forgotten all about this before I noticed it over at A Small Victory.

Sorry about the picture quality, it's a scan of a booklet page that I did for a Elvis mix CD I made a while back. I slapped a Photoshop filter on it. Best I could do on short notice.

Happy Bacardi Show Birthday to ya, King, wherever you are.

People send me stuff. I go check it out. If it's interesting, I pass it on, that's how it works. The redoubtable Mistah Tabor sent me this. I have done no research into its validity, I leave that up to you, gentle reader. Another one of those things that, as the cliche goes, make you go "hmm". I have no trouble believing its claims, but then again I'm predisposed towards disdain for the Bushes.

I'm first and foremost a Mac guy. I've used them both at my job(s) and at home since 1991. Don't understand why more people aren't, herd mentality notwithstanding. I'd be super excited about this if I could afford to buy any of it.

Looks like it's gonna be another one of those nights where I think I'm done writing, then I go and sit down to watch TV, and it occurs to me to look for something online, and when I go wherever then I wind up going somewhere else, and...I'm sure you know what I mean. Then I pass it on to you lucky boys and girls out there. Then I wind up going to bed about 1 AM and feeling like death warmed over all day the next day. Well, the cycle ends now. After this.

Found a link to Modern Drunkard Magazine's site over at Erosblog. Modern Drunkard Magazine. Is that cool or what? Great article there about Absinthe. The Hemingway quote in that piece is a hoot.

Music today, besides the Christmas haul which I'm still getting to know: Four Seasons-Genuine Imitation Life Gazette.

This is one of my all time favorite comics covers. Spectre #8, by Nick Cardy, from app.1968. Maybe it's those force lines, or that dramatic finger pointing at YOU, or the modified logo. Whatever it is, it's a kick ass cover, if you ask me. Maybe I should do a weekly feature- covers I love. One a week. Anyhoo, this is, of course, © DC Comics Inc.

Is it that time already? The new Diamond Shipping List is out, and I'll be getting:

100 Bullets 41
Fables 9
Hawkman 11
JSA 44
Vertigo Pop: London 3
Powers 27
Daredevil 41 (so this is weekly now?)
Killraven 4

Looks like another 20 dollar week. I have got to cut back.

Kinda chalky.

Excellent Buffy episode tonight. I'm trusting Giles a bit more...it would indeed be the most obvious thing to have him be a manifestation of the First Evil, which leads me to think that they won't go that way. I'd still like to know how he managed to avoid decapitation... As always, lotsa yuks to go along with the "who's really who" uneasiness.

I wonder where the hell Faith is during all this? Besides off making movies, that is.

I just wish I could watch an episode of BTVS without wondering why her jaw doesn't get broken when a monster that just powderized a concrete block with one punch hits her, and how she never seems to break any bones when she hits them, or why, when you become a vampire you automatically become the second coming of Bruce Lee, or why nobody ever drives around in Sunnydale in the early evening when eyeless zombie monks go walking all over the place, and where the hell everybody's (well, we know about Buff and Dawny's) parents are and why they never call their kids, and why the hell people want to live in Sunnydale anyway, with its presumably astronomical death rate...and why this silly show so convincingly coerces us to suspend our disbelief and accept these unbelieveable goings-on.

I know, I know. It's only a TV show. Shut up, Johnny, and enjoy it for what it is. And I do.

"God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity he would be senseless."

You are Augustine! You love to study tough issues and don't mind it if you lose sleep over them. Everyone loves you and wants to talk to you and hear your views, you even get things like "nice debating with you." Yep, you are super smart, even if you are still trying to figure it all out. You're also very honest, something people admire, even when you do stupid things.

What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

Found this over at the Leptard's joint. I know less than nothing about Christian theology. Heck, I'm not even all that much of a Christian. It just looked interesting.

While I'm flattered that Neilalien has chosen to link to me, and quote me, if you've come here after clicking the aforementioned link, know that my quote was taken out of context. It makes me sound a lot more anti-Journal than I really am. My decison to stop buying TCJ regularly had less to do with its overall editorial slant and more to do with simple economics. The perceived negativity and cynicism was indeed a factor, but not the only one. I still buy the occasional issue, like I said in the full quote, when it features an creator I want to read about and I have a light spending week.

Scroll down ten posts to read the actual piece in question, and please check out the comments where Bill Sherman, the Pop Culture Gadabout (and former Journal contributor), and I discuss it further.

Just wanted to set the record straight. Neilalien has no comment function on his site for me to argue my case over there.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

My friend and coworker Mike Cary sent me this link, but it's been so goddamned insanely busy lately around the ol' salt mine that I never got around to checking it out. I promptly forgot about it until I saw where CzelticGirl also mentioned it.

Ever of the philanthropist bent, I will now pass this wonder link on to you. This is for Epitonic, a really nice looking site for free MP3s. They've got a Soft Boys track I'm going to download very soon. Go!

What? Still here? Whilst restlessly clicking around on OPB (you know, Other People's Blogs) I also found the cute I Wish,You Wish, a listing of other bloggers' birthdays and Amazon.com wishlists, with all the appropriate linkage. Although I use my wishlist mostly as a reminder system, it might be neat to place mine proudly with others'. Anyway, while I decide, you might want to check it out. Go! Go!

I will retire now. 6 AM comes quickly, you know.

I just figured out how to strum most of the chords to the Beatles' Good Night. I have been walking around singing this to Mrs. Bacardi and my daughter. I don't think they like it. I'm having a little difficulty with the "Dream sweet dreams..." part. Oh well. Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

Just wanted to share.

One more thing, then I'm done for the evening. As reported over at Pulse, it looks like the excellent Comic Book Artist magazine will get a new publisher in June. Jon B. Cooke will still be on board, but the emphasis will now be on individual creators rather than a mix of creator pieces and overviews of various publishers over the years, and the cover price will go up from the already high $6.95 to $7.50.

This is not good news to me. I have enjoyed the previous issues a lot, and many of the best ones dealt with lesser-known comic lines like the Tower or Harvey books. Changing this to featuring the "sexy" artist of the day, a la recent spotlights on Adam Hughes, Mike Mignola and Jill Thompson, might make sense from a business standpoint, and for all I know will usher in a new, golden age for CBA, but it's a leap farther away from what I loved about the magazine in the first place. And they also may have effectively priced themselves out of my range.

Music today: The usual CDs from my Christmas haul, Robyn Hitchcock's Globe of Frogs (wanted to listen to this after checking out Globe of Blogs), and one of the all-time great 70s cheeseball AM radio hits, "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) by Edison Lighthouse. Man, I love that song.

Enough.

Oyasumi Nasai, y'all.

Picture swiped from the Unoffical Paul Westerberg Home Page, taken by Bob Hyland.

Well, that's nice, JB, but when are you going to spout off about Paul Westerberg's albums like you promised?

Wait no more. Paul's latest, released as a twofer with its immediate predecessor, which initially saw print under his secret-to-nobody nom de guerre "Grandpaboy" is titled Stereo/Mono. Or it's called simply, "Stereo", with a bonus disc enclosed which just happens to be the Grandpaboy album "Mono". Or whatever. Of course, Westerberg came to notoriety, if not necessarily fame, with his previous band, the raucous, too-punky-to-be-Rock and too-rockish-to-be-Punk Replacements. At first, the 'Mats specialized in arrogant, goofy, snotty, who-gives-a-fuck rock n' roll, but then Paul realized he had a knack for writing aching, lovely ballads, often with a slight countryish twang, which made all the critics sit up and pay attention. After that, the 'Mats and Paul's rep grew, often considered by many to be the Stones to R.E.M.'s Alternative Beatles, and they released three classic LPs (Let It Be, Tim, and Pleased To Meet Me) followed by two vaguely disappointing ones (Don't Tell A Soul, the almost-Paul-solo All Shook Down). Eventually, the band seemed to tire of courting fame one minute and running away from it the next and the loud, sloppy rollercoaster ride eventually ground to a halt in 1991. He went solo, like everybody thought he would years before, and released two overproduced, compromised-sounding albums for Warners which absolutely no one liked and fewer heard, let alone bought. His biggest problem, it seems, is that it was no longer 1985 and people expected something more from someone with his obvious gifts, but nobody knew what. Paul himself, to me, sounded confused, like he didn't know how to do anything else but what he did and couldn't make people like it. He was let go by Warners/Sire, and signed to Capitol records a while later. I thought his next album, 1996's Suicane Gratifaction was a remarkable effort, all things considered...full of more great lyrics and melodies that the last two albums combined. It even survived the heavy hand of Uberproducer Don Was. Most disagreed with me, and the album was a flop, but I for one was very encouraged. Westerberg was let go by Capitol shortly thereafter, and emerged not long after with a sloppy indie record, the first under the pseudonym Grandpaboy. While it wasn't bad, and certainly rawer than his previous solo stuff, it was still lacking that certain something.

Now, this past year, he's resurfaced with the aforementioned double CD set. Strangely enough, the Mono half is the most developed, features a full band, and rocks the hardest. Stereo basically sounds like a set of demo recordings, with minimal accompaniment. I found myself wanting to take the two discs and shuffle them together like cards, to get a mix of styles. I might still do this with the ol' CD burner. There are great songs on both discs, and Paul sounds more confident than he has in ages, if still a bit petulant and glum. I especially love "Silent Film Star" and the opener "High Time". Stereo has its share of nice songs, but they're so underdeveloped that it becomes a bit annoying. I liked the cover of "Mr. Rabbit", and a couple of others like "No Place For You" stand out as well. If you're curious, and you are predisposed to like the Replacements, then by all means check this one out. I seriously doubt that it will sell any better than its predecessors, or will even win him many new fans. I like it, but I'm one of the converted. Typically, one wishes for a lot more but I for one am glad Westerberg still cares enough to make the effort. We may never get another Tim, but those only come along every so often anyway.

Some love for Leo Sayer

I remember reading somewhere, in somebody's blog, where 70s icon and Aughts has-been Leo Sayer was getting some badmouthing. Now, I can understand this, and have in fact badmouthed him myself on many occasions after hearing his lame mid-to-late 70s (i.e., anything from or after "Endless Flight") music.

But there was a time, boys and girls, there was a time...when our Leo had pretensions. And was partnered with songwriters like Adam Faith and Dave Courtney that helped him realize those pretensions. Mr. Sayer released three albums, Silverbird, Just A Boy, and Another Year, that were on a par with almost anybody that was trying to write and record serious music. Oh yeah, and there was another album custom written for Roger Daltrey in 1973 which many feel was the best thing old Goldilocks ever did without Townshend. All were done with that classic drum/bass/piano/guitar sound, somewhat folkish and garnished heavily with strings, that many, many other pop musicians of the day like Randy Newman, Elton John, Alan Price, and others used. Swear to God, some of these songs are almost Nick Drake-ian. These songs, on these albums, had substance. They were clever and witty, and often ("Giving it All Away", from Just A Boy via "Daltrey", an excellent example) very moving. Just A Boy is his best, in my opinion, almost a tour de force for the diminutive singer and his cohorts– a far cry from the disco piffle he was to turn to after the commercial failure of Another Year. After that, he hooked up with Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr's best producer, Richard Perry, and threw all of his serious ideas out of the window, like so many of his peers- say, Elton, Rod Stewart, and so on. The rest was, as they say, history...at least until he wore out his welcome in the early 80s. Ironically, that most vapid of musical decades had no use for this now most vapid of musicians.

It's a common musical perception failure among many otherwise fine and knowledgable people; they tend to remember only the most immediate memory of a particular artist or a general impression cultivated over time. Anyone that cares to remember Sayer remembers "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", but no one seems to remember what may have come before. Hell, apparently most have never even heard what came before, even the huge hit "Long Tall Glasses". Selective memories are easy. People like easy. Just like Sunday morning.

Sigh. I know, I know, who really cares, Johnny? Who really gives a flying fuck about Leo fricking Sayer anyway? Does it really matter, in the scheme of things and in this post 9/11 world we live in? I suppose not. But it still think that no matter how inconsequential these things may be, if I can add a little clarification and set the record straight then I'm a little more sane. And sanity is a worthy goal, I feel, that I continually strive for.

Shamelessly pilfered from Sharpeworld: The Trouser Press Cover Gallery. I never read it myself, limiting myself to Creem, Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy, but I enjoyed looking at the covers and reading the comments.

Sat up way too late last night watching reruns of the Gong Show on Game Show Network. For a good part of the Seventies, I would come home from school, make a sandwich, and watch the Three Stooges, Match Game and Chuckie Barris' infamous talent show. Warped me, I'll tell you. Then there was the Big Show at 4 PM on Nashville channel 5, which showed, more often as not, monster movies from the 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s along with Elvis flicks and other great stuff. Those were the days.

Also watched the Chuck Barris True Hollywood Story on E! TV. What a life that guy has had. All this attention is, of course, because of the new George Clooney film based on Chuckie's bio, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". I haven't read the book or seen "Confessions" yet, but I hope to at least see the film soon.

I sure did love the Gong Show, though...just a full 30 minutes of absurd insanity, especially in the mid-to-later years, in which Chuckie just went nuts, wearing strange hats, shirt unbuttoned to his waist, and mumbling constantly while clapping and pointing. I loved Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, the Unknown Comic ("Hey Chuckie! Have you ever had sex with your wife in the shower?" "No." "Well you should! She loves it!"), Jaye P. Morgoan (who got fired for flashing audience members. Twice.) and all the strange acts, some of them actually pretty good, that they had. Hell, I even liked the Gong Show Movie, a disaster of biblical proportions. It was lowbrow humor, trash tv perhaps, but it wasn't as cynical and mean-spirited as much of what goes by the name of "reality TV" these days. We'll never see its like again, that's for sure!

Playoff predictions for today's games, as promised:

Browns at Steelers: The spread's waaay too big on this one. The Browns always play their opponents tough, and the Steelers rarely live up to expectations. Still, I like the Steelers' defense against playoff virgin Kelly Holcomb. Steelers 27-23.

Giants at 49ers: The Niners have looked all sorts of bad lately, and the Giants are playing like they're on a mission from God, and I don't see that changing. Giants 31-14.

Now THAT'S what I'm TALKIN' about!

I'm actually at a loss for words. The Falcons came to play tonight. I thought that if they played their A game and got some breaks, they could perhaps squeak one out...but never did I dream that they would go in to Lambeau Field and smack the Pack around. The Packers beat themselves a lot as well...anytime you turn the ball over five times to your opponent's none, you're gonna be on the short end nine and one-half times out of ten.

That's step one. Now we'll see what Philly's got. Oh, and Michele: I'll be in touch.

I just took the Comic Book Ideology test I found over at Franklin's Findings.

Here's the #1 result:

Gary Groth. Editor of Comics Journal and co-owner of Fantagraphics books, Groth is a surly elitist. His view would tend toward art, intellectualism and creator-ownership.

Oh my God. I knew that 15 years of subscribing to the Comics Journal would have some sort of effect on me. I have often agreed with Groth, but eventually the negativity and cynicism of the Journal and its writers wore me down and I stopped buying. I still pick up the occasional issue that features a creator I like, though.

#2 on my results was Scott McCloud, he of the magnificent Zot!.

Comics Review Time!

Here's what I bought and what I thought on January 3, featuring capsules and letter grades a la good ol' Bob Christgau:

1. JACK STAFF 11 Continuation of the multiple storylines that Paul Grist introduced back in #9, and of course it is flat out brilliant, especially the minimalist sequences featuring Charlie Raven, the "Greatest Escapist of the Victorian Age", which bookend this issue. They're done with a minimum of pictures, only showing Raven escaping from a straight jacket and a jail cell, but Grist fills the four or five pages with an ongoing dialogue which builds anticipation as you go along until the resolution of the seemingly different, but actually quite similar events. Sometimes, a thousand words can be worth one picture! It's a bravura job, and one that I suspect was done in this fashion simply to help Grist get caught up with the enormous workload he talks about in the inside front cover. Keep this man busy! A+


2. HAWAAIAN DICK 1 Enjoyable pastiche of 50s film noir and the supernatural, with a novel setting. This one actually came out a couple of weeks ago, but it slipped under my radar until I read a couple of reviews, and thought it sounded worth a shot. It is, of course, about a private eye in Hawaii who gets mixed up with some crooks and a stolen car, but it takes a severe left turn towards the end (in more ways than one) and really gets interesting. Written and drawn by a couple of guys who I've never heard of, but who bear watching. I especially like the art by Steven Griffen, which reminds me of old EC Comics work by people like Krigstein and Johnny Craig. A

3. BATGIRL YEAR ONE 2 You just know that the creators have got it going on when they can take a silly old 60s villain like Killer Moth and make him interesting. I used to have the first Batgirl appearance years ago, but I don't remember much about it. It would be interesting to compare events in that long-ago issue of Detective with this mini series. The art in this issue is better than the last one, and that was pretty damn good. A

4. DAREDEVIL 40 Surprising, and sad finale to the White Tiger on trial story arc. Again, I like it when I can still be surprised while reading a comic. The rushed-looking art by the Dodsons, however, was not up to par. B+

5. HELLBLAZER SPECIAL: LADY CONSTANTINE 2 Has it been a month already since #1 came out? Anyway, I was less than glowing in my evaluation of the first issue, and maybe I was a bit hasty...this issue went down a lot better. Still poorly dialogued, and not as sharply scripted as I'd like, and the art is functional, as is the case with too many Vertigo books these days. Still, I feel better about this mini than I did a few weeks ago. B

That's it! My wallet got a well-deserved rest this week.

Got a bunch of stuff to do today, and I might not get back on the ol' iMac before 3:30 CST, so I think I'll give you all my picks for this weekend's NFL playoff games.

Colts vs. Jets When I was a little kid, before I was afflicted with Falconitis, my team was the Baltimore Colts. Johnny U, Ray Berry, John Mackey. When they moved to Indianapolis, they became less likeable, and not counting the year they almost went to the Super Bowl with Jim Harbaugh, I haven't rooted for them much since, oh, 1970. Peyton Manning is a good, not great QB who is mistake prone and gets on my last nerve with his constant flailing around behind the line of scrimmage. Just run the fucking play, Peyton, Can it be that much worse than what you would audible? Anyway, while the Colts are tough, they're a dome team on the road, and the weather in the Meadowlands isn't supposed to be all that great. Plus, the Jets have that "team of destiny" look about them; whether or not that destiny is Super Bowl or ignominious defeat at home in the Wild Card round is anybody's guess. I'll take the Jets, 26-21.

It's always hard to predict your favorite team's games. You want them to win, of course, and you have that little, foolish optimism that all hardcore fans have (some have a large, foolish optimism). However, unless they play the game of their lives, and who's to say that might not happen (and I said the same thing back in '98), the combination of Favre, snow, Lambeau mystique, and their own inconsistent offense and weak defense will send my boys home in defeat. It pains me to say it, but it's looking like Packers 20, Falcons 16. I think they will cover the 6 1/2 point spread.

I'll pick Sunday's games later.

If your internet provider is au.net, then I thank you for being the 1,000th visitor to my humble little blog. I hope you found something interesting to read.

Seven, coun't 'em, seven primo John Cassaday Hellboy pages in a preview of the new Hellboy anthology book over at Newsarama.com. Click here to see 'em, they're sweet.

Also at Newsarama, a Paul Pope interview.

Guess this is gonna be a random thoughts type thing tonight. I want to write but I'm just feeling kinda braindead. More so than usual, thank you.

One thing I've become aware of since I started doing this is how many different bells and whistles there are out there for blogs. I've been thinking about adding Blogrolling.com, but I don't know if it will be worth it. I tried Bloglink, even added a couple of sites through it, but thought "What am I gonna do with all the blogs I already have linked to?" I didn't feel like going to the trouble of copying and pasting all the URLs in...and the HTML code caused my page to load incorrectly anyway so I just cancelled and went back to the old way of adding the links to my template. I tried to join a Capricorn webring, just on a whim (felt a little silly afterwards) but it too didn't show up right when I added the code to my template. All the page elements were thrown off, and wouldn't reproduce the fonts correctly. So I didn't add it. Problem solved sort of. Maybe it's a PC/Mac thing, I don't know. I'm also kinda mulling over ditching Blogspot for Movable Type. I've seen a lot of great looking blogs that use it. Decisions, decisions.

Found this amusing tarot deck on Alas,A Blog.

Falcons play tomorrow night. At Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the forecast is for snow and freezing temps. This could get ugly. Even so, Michele, if you're willing to give me the points, I'll take Atlanta (and the points) for a comic book! I'll email you.

Finally got to buy new comics today. Pretty good haul, much slimmer than the last couple of weeks, thank God. Best was, of course, Jack Staff 11 but I was very impressed with Hawaiian Dick. No comments, please. I'll write more later when I get out of this weird mood I'm in.

Very disappointing: Pearl Jam's Riot Act and Chris Robinson's New Earth Mud. Both have their moments, but they're few and far between– instead, plodding mid-tempo not-quite-rockers are the norm for both. The Robinson album is indistinguishable from his work with his previous group, the Black Crowes and is aptly named. The Pearl Jam album might grow on me if I give it a chance, which I really haven't done so far.

I'm pissed about the remixed John Lennon CD, Mind Games. Nothing against remixed and remastered albums per se, sometimes it's a necessary thing and often it enhances enjoyment of poorly recorded or muddily produced music. But John, by the time of 1973's Mind Games, was employing a deliberately muddy production sound, which didn't favor any one instrument– instead, he created a midrange mush (which sounds worse than it was, really). For this re-release, however, they've clarified and beefed up instruments in several songs, most notably keyboards...completely destroying Lennon's mix. It's extremely annoying to hear organ fills throughout the title song, and other bass and electric guitar licks come in where you don't remember and don't want them to. If you've never heard this album before and don't know the difference, that's one thing but for those of us who are extremely familiar with it, it's a distraction and an annoyance. And that's not even the most heinous crime...the album's closer, a weird gallumphing rocker called "Meat City" has a totally different vocal track than on the original vinyl release! What the fuck is up with THAT? It's not nearly as good, either, and doesn't have Lennon mumbling gibberish as the track fades out at the end, which was an amusing ending on the original. Feh. And they got paid, by Yoko, to do this?

Well, honk my hooter. Ohio State beat Miami. Glad I didn't lay any money down on it! Is it just me, or is there no such thing as an upset anymore if every game ends in an upset?

I went out and bought new headphones today. In my line of work, they're indispensable. Also, there's a fellow who comes in twice a day to my area and works on another Mac in the opposite corner. He's a nice guy, but he hums. Tunelessly. Constantly. I don't know if he's aware that he does it or not, but it is mind-bendingly annoying. So, my headphones also function as a humming screen. I'm also a little excited because I intend to take my dead turntable to a new place in the nearby town of Glasgow, to see if they can pull a Lazarus on it. My turntable went dead on me a little over three years ago, and I took it to a local place to get it fixed, but they only half-assed fixed it and it died again a couple of months later. I probably should have taken it back and demanded they do it right this time, but I thought I'd like to get a new one, one with a few more features. Problem is, my cash flow ain't what it oughtta be, like many of us I know, so I waited. And waited. And checked eBay. And got outbid a couple of times. And waited some more. Then kinda gave up. Then, my daughter mentioned the new place and I thought "What the heck, I'll see what they can do with it". So keep your fingers crossed for me, my friends. I've got about 5 or 6 albums that I've bought here and there, mostly on eBay, over the last three years that I haven't listened to yet, not to mention all the vinyl I already owned and don't have on CD that I'm dying to listen to!

Yes, I'm one of those who feels like vinyl LPs have better sound. More presence and warmth. Give me a pristine vinyl copy over a CD anytime. Problem is, just try to find pristine vinyl LPs...and keep them that way. Programmability and lack of surface noise are reasons why I buy CDs. But I am not afraid to grab a classic old album on vinyl if I can find it, especially if it isn't available on CD. Hey, maybe I should make a list of favorite albums not available on CD! No, wait, I did that already. Never mind. I intend to add to it some more, though, so you've been warned.

Oh, all right, I'm done. Good night.

Happy birthday to the Maestro, Van Dyke Parks!

I've been watching a lot of the I Love The 80s shows on VH1 lately. Seems like ages since I've wanted to watch anything on VH1. It was OK for the most part, but I got real annoyed real fast at the comments of the moronic celebrities that just seemed to be interested in who could be the biggest smart ass...I thought some of those sitcom stars and pseudo-pundits' faces were going to crack in two from the extreme smirks they wore on their mugs, and the frustratingly shallow focus of the whole thing drove me crazy. Hell, I know what happened to Terence Trent D'Arby, but precious few others do and from the show last night you'd think that he spontaneously combusted after his first album was released! I know that ironic distance and not-so-subtle ridicule of anything that isn't right here right now is pretty much par for the course these days, but I wanted to reach into the tube and bitch slap several of those nitwits.

Michele over at A Small Victory has just written a little love letter to that not-so-distant decade, and I agree with her on a lot of things, but I will never agree that the music of the 80s, with its constant synthdrums, was better than the music of the 70s. I was also gratified to see that she's only a couple of years younger than I. Class of 1978, baby!

Very nice column over at Devra's Blue Streak, about her perception of that ol' Beelzebubba Bill Clinton. I kinda agree with her a lot on the subject. Bill was a dumbass when it came to the Lewinsky affair, but I had a hell of a lot more confidence in him having the wherewithal to get the job done that I do with the current occupant. Aw, what do I know. I'm a high-avoidant, moderate schizotypal histrionic dependent obsessive-compulsive. Go here and read the column in question.

Music today: none. My headphones are busted. Gotta get new ones tomorrow.

Just took this interesting Personality Disorder test I found over at Diary of a Madman. Here are the results:

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Moderate
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	Low
Avoidant:	High
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Moderate
-- Click Here To Take The Test --

See how YOU rate!

In the immortal words of Heather Chandler, "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw!"

I just won a $50 gift certificate from Amazon.com, courtesy of the fine folks at Blogarama.com, a fairly new site directory that I'm listed with. I'm a little stunned. I rarely win anything! Now I gotta figure out what I want to buy, which won't be as easy as you'd think...

Maybe you should go over and list with them too...what the hell, if I can win, anybody can!

In case you're wondering, the fellow in the picture above is none other than one of my favorite comic book characters, "The World's Most Disgusting Super-Hero" (DC's words, not mine- hell of a way to promote your character) Super-Hip! He appeared in about a dozen or so issues of DC's Adventures of Bob Hope comic back in the late Sixties. When I was a little kid I thought he was a hoot, and I wish I had held onto the two or three comics I had with him in them because they're next to impossible to find now (affordably, that is). I nominate him to be the new Bacardi Show mascot for the near future.

Super-Hip came along as the Hope comic was beginning to run out of steam a bit, and DC became desperate to appeal to the young hippie crowd in the mid 60s. They tried all kinds of things, from Go-Go Checks on their covers to hippie heroes (Brother Power, The Geek, anyone?), but nothing really worked because as we all know, Marvel comics were the comics of choice for the college crowd back then, and the DC folks were all from the WWII generation...and just didn't get it. Super-Hip was in reality Bob's nerdy nephew Tadwallader Jutefruice, and he came to live with Uncle Bob and his talking dog Harvard-Harvard (Don't get the joke. Still don't.) in issue #95. He attended Benedict Arnold High School. Its faculty was made up of classic Universal horror movie monsters, including a Dracula type (Dr. Van Pyre) as principal, a Frankenstein's monster as football coach, a werewolf (Dr. Von Wolfmann-oh, my aching sides) as science professor and so on. There was also the requisite Reggie Mantle-type who gave Tad a hard time, name of Badger Goldliver. Whenever Tad got upset or angry, then he would go into convulsions and transform into Super-Hip, a Brian Jones look-alike who could fly and shape change. The new direction of the book wasn't enough to save it, eventually writer Arnold Drake and his editors seemed to tire of the character (he didn't even appear on the last four or five covers) and Bob's title bit the dust after issue #109...but I always remembered it as being funny in that Henny Youngman, borscht-belt, Mad magazine type way and look back on those comics fondly. And Super-Hip is pretty cool in a retro-kitschy kind of way. God forbid that DC should ever bring him back, he'd be a heroin addict or something.

Oh, What's he saying? Sorry it didn't reproduce all that well. To make the file small, I had to scan at low resolution, which plays hell with small type. The caption says: "And out of that whirling, wailing psychoneurotic frug appears:" and he says: "Me! Super-Hip! That winning number in the game of human bingo! That whipped cream topping on the chocolate pudding of life! That gleaming champagne glass in a world of dirty Dixie Cups!" Clip and save.

Update 5/30/03 I had no idea that Dirk Deppey had linked to this particular blog entry, so I apologize to those who came here before. I had originally referred to an image of Super Hip that I had in the feature space at the top of the second column; it stayed there for several weeks. But- when you republish your archives in Blogger, it automatically updates the second column to the most current content. I'm sure it was confusing as hell to whoever came here and read it! I've gone in and added the image in question to the top of this post, and have corrected a couple of factual errors as well. Thanks for checking it out, and for God's sake buy something from Fantagraphics!

Well, I sat at home last night, drank responsibly, watched Eddie Izzard and Adult Swim with Mrs. Bacardi, and except for a slight headache which went away by 3 PM I'm feeling just fine today. So far so good in 2003.

I've spent most of the day putting my CDs back in their proper, alphabetized place on my shelves. I usually grab a half dozen or so to take with me to work, then bring them home and leave them stacked on the shelf. Eventually they pile up into a mess of gargantuan proportions until I finally work up the nerve to pull them all down, put 'em in order and put 'em back where they belong . I know, I know, I could save myself a lot of trouble if I would just put them back at the end of the day, but I just can't seem to get myself to do it. Character flaw I have, I suppose. Anyhoo, I've been listening to a lot of the new stuff I got for Christmas while I've been doing it, and right now I'm loving the Coldplay, Los Lobos, and Sexsmith and liking the Westerberg and Chris Robinson albums. I like the John Lennon CD, but there are BIG problems I have with this particular release and you can bet the farm I'm gonna write about them eventually.

According to Diamond's online list the new books will be out Friday, not tomorrow. Feh. Looking at the list, I'll be getting Batgirl: Year One 2, Lady Constantine 2, Daredevil 40, and Jack Staff 11, in addition to Hawaiian Dick 1, which, you may recall, I put back a week or so ago. A light haul, just fine with me after the fat stacks of the last two weeks.

I see on my site tracking list that I've had a few Google hits from people looking for nude pictures of Nani, Lilo of Lilo & Stitch fame's sister. For shame.

(uh, fellas...if you find any good ones, send me a link, what ya say?)

Sayonara for now.

Oh, and while I'm at it:

I suppose, now that 2003 is almost here, that it is incumbent upon me to try to cobble together some sort of list of the best of 2002. I'm at a little disadvantage, I suppose, becaue there's not a lot of disposable income here at the Bacardi household, and seemingly most of that goes for comics...which means my movie viewing and music purchasing has been somewhat slack this year. Now please bear in mind that this is the best of 2002 that managed to come into my orbit. I'm sure there were many, many superior films and albums that came out this year, but if I didn't see em or hear 'em, then I didn't list 'em. Here goes nothing:

MOVIES

Here's a short list of films I saw (rental or theatre) with a release date of 2002: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Spider-Man, Lilo and Stitch, Mr. Deeds, Scooby-Doo, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones, Resident Evil, Ice Age, and Brotherhood of the Wolf. Boy do I feel like a geek. Usually I watch more substantial fare, I swear. Anyway, since this list is only 9 movies long, I'll just rank the top 5, and they are:

1. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers- A marvelous acheivement, if you ask me. Epic in scale, but also full of heart. The Return of the King should be a doozy.

2. Spider-Man- Although I could nitpick, this was the best adaptation of a super-hero comic book to the big screen, so far. Sam Raimi is one of my favorite directors, and he did not disappoint.

3. Brotherhood of the Wolf- Imaginative and somewhat over-the-top, but also a wee bit disappointing. Maybe I had too-high expectations. I'd still recommend it highly to anyone who is looking for something different.

4. Lilo and Stitch- Beautifully drawn and animated, and fun in spite of itself.

5. Resident Evil- This one surprised me. While not a landmark in cinema by any stretch, it was a diverting couple of hours, and it had Milla Jovovich, who's always diverting to me in many ways.

MUSIC

1. Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wonderfully eclectic, often sounding like someone locked Hank Sr., Brian Wilson, Neil Young and Harry Nilsson in a room and forced them to collaborate. While not as tuneful as its predecessor Summerteeth, it was still one of the strongest releases of 2002.

2. Coldplay-A Rush of Blood to the Head Most reviewers compare them to U2 and Radiohead, and I suppose that's valid, but to me they sound more like Supertramp produced by Brian Eno. Which means that these stately songs are extremely strong melodically, and sonically experimental. These guys are contendahs.

3.Norah Jones-Come Away With Me Relaxed, lovely, sexy jazz-ish lounge music, in the best sense of the term. She's another artist to pay attention to.

4. Los Lobos-Good Morning Aztlan I was a bit surprised to not find this on any year-end best-of lists. It's a solid, rockish, bluesy effort with strong songwriting and playing and enough sonic experimentation to keep it all interesting. Gambling Gringo, you should get this.

5. Warren Zevon-My Ride's Here While this didn't grab me as hard as his previous album, Life'll Kill Ya, did, it's still a solid effort with a lot of great tunes.

TV

I've never been one to watch a lot of network series TV. Usually when I latch on to a series, it either gets cancelled before the year's over (Action, Strange Luck, and several others) or it airs on cable, like the superlative Larry Sanders Show. So with that in mind, here's the short list of TV shows I liked in 2002, and don't be surprised that a coupe of them are cartoons...

1. Firefly If you've been reading me at all, this should be no surprise, since I haven't shut up about it since I started blogging. Great ensemble cast, imaginative premise and stories, and dismal ratings. Sounds right up my alley. Hopefully we'll see it again someday, somewhere.

2. Kim Possible While most of the programming on the Disney Channel is strictly for pre-teens, this is a clever, fun cartoon about a young lady who's also a world-saving super agent. Great character design and very well animated.

3. Adult Swim The troika of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and the Brak Show is some of the most hilarious, surreal, insane stuff I've ever seen. I especially love the Aqua Teens. My god, what kind of drugs do these guys do to come up with this stuff. Home Movies is also often very funny. Except for the Eltingville one-shot, I haven't been too impressed with the other Sunday night programs they've aired. I've never been much of an Anime fan, so I don't watch Saturday nights very much...but I will catch the occasional Cowboy Bebop.

4. John Doe This amalgam of the Prisoner, the Fugitive and the X-Files is often diverting and clever. Deserves a bigger audience than it's getting.

5. Mucha Lucha! I'm not a Mexican wrestling fan by any means, but this silly Saturday morning cartoon about a school for Luchadores-masked wrestlers to us gringos-is often very funny and has a colorful cast of characters.

COMICS

These are the titles I've enjoyed the most this past year:

1. Jack Staff I've written at length about this great book previously, so I'll spare you. Great art, writing, and soon to be getting more widespread distribution in '03 courtesy of Image.

2. 100% The latest from Paul Pope has gripped me like no other comic has in many years. Cinematic in scope, Pope sets up a diverse and interesting cast of characters, pairs them off, and lets us experience the ups and downs of each. Maybe the best romance comic since the 1950s, and certainly one of the best things ever to come out under the DC imprint.

3. Elektra: Glimpse and Echo I was a bit let down by the resolution, but otherwise this was imaginatively illustrated by Scott Morse in what almost seemed to be a Cubist style. I'm lookng forward to his next project.

4. Lucifer Always one of the best reads in the week it comes out, this Sandman spinoff is the only one of its kind that has come close to surpassing its source. Mike Carey has become one of my favorite writers.

5. Hellboy: The Third Wish Another great Hellboy adventure, clever and even poetic at the end. Mike Mignola can do no wrong.

Well, there it is, for what it's worth! Let me know what you think.

All season long, I've enjoyed reading Tuesday Morning Quarterback by Gregg Easterbrook on ESPN.com. In the spirit of better late than never, I now give you linkage. TMQ is the kind of sports column I wish I could write. The curious are encouraged to click on the TMQ archives and read previous columns.

A happy Bacardi Show birthday to Mr. Paul Westerberg, formerly of the Impediments. From one Grandpaboy to another.

As soon as I can get a chance, I'll spout off about his latest album, Stereo/Mono.

I love this picture. Face Front, True Believer!

Rich Johnston chimes in over at CBR with his year-end Lying in the Gutters column. Always a fun read and there's lots of interesting innuendo therein...and a few nuggets of truth scattered liberally throughout. I stole the picture of Uncle Stan from there, as you will see. I hadn't figured out how to post pictures on this page when this shot made the rounds originally. Better late than never.

Woohoo! Looking at the Diamond Shipping List, I see where there's a new Jack Staff coming out Thursday! Still no 100%, though, so there is a down side.

The Atlanta Falcons lost the battle but won the war today, losing to the Cleveland Browns 26-14 but still qualifying for the playoffs since the New Orleans Saints lost as well.

I have been known to be wrong before, but I don't like their chances against the always tough Green Bay Packers in the opening round of the playoffs, especially considering their inconsistent offense with its coaches' boneheaded play-calling, and their softer than ice cream defense. Backing into the playoffs was the worst way for them to go in, too. It is worth mentioning that in week one, before anybody dreamed what this Falcons team would acheive, that the Pack only beat them by the slimmest of margins, at home, and if not for a questionable call would have been beaten. At this point I send a shout out to Michele.

Still, it's been a pretty good season overall. I never thought they'd make it this far. I thought they'd be 7-9, at best 8-8 when the season started. Maybe they'll prove me wrong and go deep into the playoffs. I sure hope so! I'm not betting the house, though.

I first read the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was 15. Read it again a few years later. Never read the Hobbit, though...just felt like it wasn't necessary, and besides it was recapped often in the books of the Trilogy. Like everybody else, I had my own ideas in my head about what Aragorn aka Strider, Gandalf, and company should look like. I always thought that it would be next to impossible to film the entire trilogy intact, if nothing else than due to the sheer enormity of it all. Thought it a Quixotic task at best.

Then along came Peter Jackson, and aided by today's special effects magicians he has proven himself to be the one man with enough of a poetic vision coexisting side-by-side with pragmatic realism to pull it off and pull it off with panache. The first movie was amazing, and I think that the sequel, The Two Towers, is even better. Whereas the first film (like the book) bogged down a bit with its endless journeys here and there (although I really didn't mind all that much), this film pretty much stays in three or four central locales and lets its stories unfold. The rendition of the Gollum character using a blend of actor and computer effects was nothing short of amazing. Of course, I could nitpick- and most of my complaints would be with the tinkering around Jackson and his scriptwriters did to beef up the love triangle and (out of necessity) condense some events and it is true that the film as a whole has no real beginning or end- but given the sheer overall excellence in acting, direction, and effects, and successful realization of most people's vision of the books, my quibbling is pointless. Can't wait till December 2003 and the Return of the King.

Another thought I had while watching the film was that the Happiest Man Alive right now is probably Brad Dourif, who was impressive as Grima Wormtongue in Towers. It looked like he would be relegated to B movies and straight to cable/video schlock for the rest of his career. But here he is, in one of the biggest films of recent memory, and he gave a great performance. I'd think his career might be looking up!

Also took a few minutes last night and watched Ice Age, which was a pleasant enough time-filler. Occasionally amusing, but nothing that really blew me away and I found myself getting restless before it was over.


There are several movies out right now I'd love to see. It's been quite some time since I've said that! Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can and Chicago are looking mighty interesting...

Well, at an obscenely early hour this morning, they tore down Cinergy Field.

My first Major League baseball game was in the newly opened Riverfront Stadium, which is what it was called in the beginning. I went with my dad, my best friend at the time Kevin, Kevin's dad Buddy (who is a subject worthy of a whole column) and his little brother Chris. The Reds were playing the Philadelphia Phillies, and it was ball day. There was another thing to look forward to- we were going to meet Cave City, KY (a town just five miles away from Horse Cave) native and Caverna High School (my alma mater, you may remember) product Dennis Doyle, who was a rookie second baseman for the Phils at the time and knew my friend's Dad, who was a Little League coach for many years. You may remember that he went on to play in a World Series, against the Reds, in 1975 and his younger brother Brian starred for the Yankees in the Series in 1978. Anyway, we met him, got to talk to several players and got a couple of autographs...including one of a reserve outfielder named Ron Stone. Reds pitcher Tony Cloninger hit a grand slam in that game, and the Reds won. I'll always remember many things about my first Major League ballgame, none more than Phillies outfielder Oscar Gamble's immense 'Fro.

We went back the next year, to a dismally wet and cold game in May in which they took on the San Fransisco Giants. Got to see Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Bobby Bonds (Barry's dad, of course), in addition to the great Reds stars like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, and others. The Giants won in extra innings on a McCovey homer.

We tried every year for several years to go see at least one game, making a 300 mile, 3 1/2 hour drive. In 1975, My friend Dwayne Gardner and I went up with Dwayne's brother to see the Reds play the Cubs. We were watching batting practice, and I was looking in another direction when someone shouted "heads up!"...I looked up to see a ball coming right at me! I stuck up my hand in self defense more than anything, and it deflected off my hand, landing in the aisle behind my friend, who scooped it up. We looked to see who the player was. It was none other than Ron Stone, then with the Cubbies! I've looked up Stone's career on the internet, though, and all the sources say that he ended it in 1972 with the Phillies. I don't believe it for a minute, though. I'm absolutely certain it was him! Maybe he never batted for them. This will make me insane if I think about it much more.

I've got these and many, many more memories of seeing both baseball and football games in Riverfront (I will never intentionally refer to it as Cinergy Field) Stadium, including the last game I ever got to see with my father, who died in 1990...we brought my then 6 year old son to a 1988 game with (here's a coincidence) the Phillies, the only time the three of us ever went to see a ballgame together. There were many drunken games when my friends and I turned 21 (No, we didn't drive home. We took a shuttle to our hotel), some intensely hot Summertime games in which we couldn't sit in our seats because the sun was so bad (and we were so hung over!)...and I also remember well a 1988 Prince concert at adjacent Riverfront Colisseum, when I got there too early and occupied myself wandering around outside the stadium, reminiscing about games and such.

Yeah, I know it was another of those cookie cutter, donut-like, flying-saucer shaped, Astroturf field multi-purpose mostrosities that were built back in the Seventies. But even though it wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as Wrigley or Fenway it was where I got to see baseball. I've been to several other stadiums, in the course of my life since, but Riverfront will always occupy a special place in my heart. There may have been better looking ladies out there, but I had the most fun with her. So here's to you, Riverfront Stadium nee Cinergy Field. At least one person will miss ya.