The Johnny Bacardi Show

Hi, everyone...haven't had much time to sit in front of the butterfly curtains today, hence my lack of content. I went on a job interview this morning at a print shop in the community of Morgantown, about 60 miles away. They had advertised for a typesetter/graphic artist for the last month or so, and I thought what the heck, why not. That is what I do. Now when I was a kid, I accompanied my father (who was a wholesale grocery supplier's sales rep) on his Monday route, which took him to Morgantown, and had been there a few times as an (alleged) adult...but I had forgotten how far away it was, and how long it took to get there. So, I set out one day a few weeks ago, to put in an application and refresh my memory. And let me tell you, that is one long-ass drive, through Mammoth Cave National Park in part and mostly on hilly, twisty roads...and by the time I got there I knew I didn't want that job, but I thought since I had driven all that way I might as well apply. So I did, not dreaming they'd call me back. But they did. So this morning I drove back over there, jumped through a few hoops (typing test, built a flyer, proofreading test) then talked to the boss who told me that he appreciated me coming out, but he thought I was probably too overqualified and would want more money than they were prepared to spend. And he was right on both counts, which begs the question: Why the hell did they call me in, wasting my time and my gas, in the first place? Oh well.

I also have had to do a few things around the house, in preparation for the upcoming trip to Sidney, Nebraska...so that has left little time to write. But I decided to sit down and make some time.

I didn't watch any movies this weekend, but I have started watching Angel reruns on the area WB network. They showed the first one last night, and I was surprised at how much had changed since then. It didn't seem to have the same feel as the show does now, either, but they were watchable.

I also caught the new Teen Titans episode, in which they bring back, much to my surprise (I hadn't read anything about upcoming episodes) The Mad Mod! And they revived him in very clever fashion (no pun intended)- looking for all the world like he was designed by Jamie Hewlett with Austin Powers in mind, and having him voiced by my old droogie Malcolm (Alex) McDowell, a very clever stroke. And the animation itself was a tour de force of psychedelic effects combined with the usual anime action, making for a fun watch. I saw all kinds of homages to 60s films and TV like Yellow Submarine and the Avengers TV show, and even British comics like Paradax (the little missles with the checkerboards on them). I always kinda liked the Mad Mod character from way back in Teen Titans 17, and was tickled by this forward-thinking look back. You know, I'd pay good money for a prestige format Super-Hip vs. the Mad Mod one shot! Drawn by Hewlett or Philip Bond, and written by, oh, maybe Grant Morrison or Pete Milligan...

Dead Like Me had its season finale over the weekend as well, and it was excellent. As we've gotten to know each of the characters, the annoying little things that had bugged me when the series started have been smoothed out, and this has been my favorite show of the last few months. Don't know how the ratings were, but I sincerely hope it returns for (at least) another season.

I also caught most of an Elvis Costello "By Request" concert on A&E, where he played songs that people would phone or email in. He was in great form, and rocked real hard on the old stuff like "Radio Radio" that he could play in his sleep, I'm sure. I was less tolerant of the godawful Paul McCartney in Russia concert they aired, which was as much documentary as it was concert show and made the outrageous claim that the Beatles helped bring about the fall of Communism! It was just too much after a while, so I bailed and still haven't finished watching it.

I couldn't get into the new PBS series The Blues, either, and not just because I've always found the blues (certainly a seminal art form, no doubt, and I recognize that) a bit limited and boring. I might try to watch some of the other entries in the series, especially Wim Wenders' outing tonight...if the football game is as dull as I expect. I'm terrible, I know. Other than football, that's about all the quality time I've spent with my TV lately.

A couple of things worth noting in the Comics blogisphereiverse...Sean T. Collins has written a hilarious evisceration of the recently concluded Batman opus, "Hush". I managed to avoid that one, since I saw from the previews that it looked like it was gonna stink on ice- especially judging by the circa 1991 stylings of the overrated Jim Lee. I will state for the record, though, that I liked the run of Batman Halloween specials Jeph Loeb did with Tim Sale (less so Long Halloween and the muddled Dark Victory), as well as his more recent Daredevil: Yellow. Spider-Man: Blue, though, was such a crashing bore that I decided not to even pick up the upcoming Hulk book, next in the series. Maybe if they do Giant-Man: Helmeted, I might. But seriously, my favorite Jeph Loeb work remains his clever Challengers of the Unknown limited series he did for DC with Sale back in (I think it was) 1994. It was a refreshingly mature and slightly cynical look at the Challs, and was good enough to overcome the hackneyed Standard Issue Demon Menace at the end.

Also, over at Forager's, there is an interesting post and discussion of Neal Adams, Dave Gibbons, and Dave Fiore's review of Geoff Klock's How to Read Super-Hero Comics and Why. I haven't read the book in question, but I totally disagreed with his opinion of Adams vs. Gibbons and the "reality" trend over the last few decades in comics, and I popped off in the comments column. I need to get back over there and make another point which occurred to me this morning, but it will have to wait till later. You go read, and read Dave's review as well.

That's all I got for now. I have dishes to wash. Sigh.