World of Linnen

Linnen Reviews "Watchmen"

2009-03-09T20:27:00.002-04:00

I remember reading Watchmen back in the mid-80s as the individual issues hit the stands, so I have some true "comic geek" history with this story. You see, I have followed the adventures of countless heroes over the past thirty years in these four-color magazines, and with along with me, my opinions of these heroes have grown up over time.

Batman is, of course, my favorite character as anyone who knows me will attest; however, I would never single out an issue of Batman as my favorite comic. His story is like a television soap opera, extended for the purpose of making money. His war on crime can never end and as a result, his story will never be completed. It seems to me that for a book to impact a reader enough for it to become his or her "favorite", it must be a full story, one with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

To get this in comic books, you need what is commonly referred to as a "limited series" - a book that isn't intended to live beyond it's natural life. The author begins it knowing exactly how it is going to end - and then the characters ride off into the sunset. The genre of comic books has had many great ones over the years - Preacher, Sandman, V For Vendetta, Starman - yet none of these tremendous stories have been able to supplant Watchmen as my favorite.

So what did I think about the film?

I was blown away with its faithfulness to the source novel and by how fantastic everything looked on screen. No lie – often I felt like a little kid seeing a favorite character come to life! I left the theatre completely happy with what director Zack Snyder presented us.

Is Snyder a “visionary director” like the film’s numerous preview trailers would have us believe? Well, I would say “no” based on this movie.

Here’s why: I have seen sections of the original script that writer Alan Moore gave to artist Dave Gibbons when they were collaborating on the comic. It is detailed enough to give you a migraine. A single panel could take up a full, typed page as Moore explains character’s positions in relation to each other, gives descriptions of benches or rooms, tells us what someone’s unspoken thoughts are or what they are wearing…

Gibbons uses all this to create what is one of the most tasteful and intelligent examples of comic book art I have ever seen. He doesn’t fill panels with unnecessary lines or cross-hatching like many of today’s popular artists. He has a completely realistic understanding of the human form. Although the tone of the story is dark, his art is not, and yet the appropriate mood is still struck in the reader. Not just anyone could pull this off.

Snyder’s brainstorm, and the movie’s biggest strength, was his decision not to deviate from the comics. Because of his desire that his movie look as much like the comic as possible, in my opinion, we are witnessing Moore and Gibbon’s vision, run through the filter of Snyder’s brain.

Maybe this has something to do with Moore’s hatred of the movie, I don’t know. In a way, I see his point: Watchmen was created as a comic first and foremost. It is as a comic that it completely worked as a story and won over millions of readers. What is it with our desire to translate everything to film??

You read a book like The DiVinci Code and you can see that, in his mind, the author was cashing checks from movie studios as it was written. There was never any question that these stories were created specifically to be seen on the big screen. That’s not what you get with Watchmen. Watchmen works masterfully where it was intended to work.

Now having said that, unlike it’s author, I loved seeing it on the big screen! I thought that much of the casting was inspired. Jackie Earle Haley was incredible as Rorschach! He nailed the voice without making it seem clichéd, especially fortunate following on the heels of Christian Bale’s Batman, which some found to be over-the-top. Physically, he looked as if he had been plucked right from the pages of the comic.

Another bit of perfect casting was Patrick Wilson, who played Nite Owl. This role was important because it is through him that the reader immerses himself in the story. Wilson provided a wonderfully understated performance. And even though it has become the favorite past time of reviewers to criticize Malin Akerman’s performance as Silk Spectre, I didn’t really think she was bad. She isn’t ever going to win an Oscar, but so what?

Sets were incredible; just like the comic. The CGI Dr. Manhattan? Beautiful. He looked exactly how I imagined he would if that character was real. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre saving the people in the burning apartment building really struck me as an incredible scene – likewise, the police’s capture of Rorschach.

Some complain about the end of the movie, the section that the film-makers actually changed. You know what? It works beautifully. Given what they had to take out of the movie to get it down to a workable running time, I’m glad they did what they did. To leave it unchanged but to cut out the Black Freighter story and the “missing creative folks” subplot would have made no sense. And even considering how much I love the book – this ending may be just a bit better.

So although I started by saying Snyder isn’t a visionary, I think he did a great job, and I’m so thankful that he is the director that finally made this movie. He respected the source novel and that shows with every frame I witnessed on the screen. His reported 3 ½ hour extended cut should be even better than what I saw in the theatre because it will allow for more character beats in the story. Much like Peter Jackson’s extended cuts of “Lord of the Rings” replaced their shorter versions as the “real versions” in my mind, I look forward to the DVD release with great anticipation. In the meantime, I’m very happy with the “Watchmen” I experienced last night.

There is a story to tell with this...

2009-02-10T22:15:00.008-05:00

...but I'm so sleepy. Consider these few sentences a space-holder till I can find time to explain exactly what this is all about. In the meantime, so many folks are asking for these videos that I just wanted to get them posted. Enjoy....and be amazed by true musicians. All your questions will soon be answered.

Jim's Performance (Sorry buddy - I was too drunk to remember the camera had a flash till about two minutes into it.)

Toly's Performance:

And the prize is awarded:

Lying on the sofa...

2009-01-11T17:25:00.005-05:00

Thanks to the generosity of my father-in-law and step-mother-in-law, I am lying on the sofa, watching the Steelers, and blogging. Yup, the Xmas laptop - one of the best presents you can receive if you are lazy and old like me.

I can't believe that the Eagles beat the world-champion Giants, but for the sake of my friends Toly and Queen Bee, I'm glad. Of course, as a long-time Jets fan, I'm still reeling from the self-destruction my team went through the last seven weeks of the regular season.

We had an excellent weekend, spending the beginning of it (thursday night and friday) up north with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We had some great pizza and a couple heated nerf dart-gun battles. The dart guns changed my life, and I now own two of my own. I'll attach a sweet picture of me using them to get out of a sticky situation here on this blog entry.
I didn't accomplish much of anything else this weekend. I was out of commission more or less yesterday afternoon/evening due to a big bowl of bean soup I ate for lunch. It was tasty, but it wrecked havoc with me later. Sunday I had some work to do for the scholarship committee I chair, so I did that. Actually, it was my final act for the committee as I decided to step down. It's an inconvenience and we are doing it for an organization that really doesn't appreciate us. They've cut our funding the past couple years to the point where we haven't been able to give away our local thousand-dollar scholarship. We have simply acted as middlemen for the National scholarship - evaluating the applications and then passing them on to the next level of judging. No fun there.

Sweet! Just saw a Watchman trailer during commercials. I'll tell you - I'm glad the world has finally caught up to me and realizes how cool Alan Moore's graphic novel is. I remember reading the individual issues as they came out in '86. As always, my friends and I were ahead of the curve.

Well, since I'm rambling and not really saying anything of interest, I'll sign off. Gotta go lend my support to the Steelers.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas, Part 2:

2008-12-14T20:43:00.003-05:00

Well, we headed down to visit Hans, Missy, and Siena on Friday in preparation for Saturday night's Christmas surprise. Our presents this year were dinner in Baltimore and tickets to some sort of secret event. Turns out it was a show called "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" - and it was hilarious! Charlie Ross, the actor responsible for the show, was tremendous, capturing the essence of all the Star Wars characters, in particular Luke Skywalker. He also did a killer Jabba the Hutt, believe it or not!

One of the highlights of the show was a pair of mid-sixties gentlemen who somehow ended up in the front row, even though they seemed to have neither an understanding of Star Wars nor a desire to be in the theater. In one scene featuring Darth Vader and some eerie, minimalist lighting, they snuck out, never to be seen again. When the lights came back on, in the middle of a line, Ross asked "Did those guys just leave??" They then became the subject of ridicule briefly between each of the three "movies." It was so funny. THANK YOU HANS AND MISSY!!

Other items of note: I very affordably added four more "Siouxsie and the Banshees" CDs to my growing collection, although the only way for you to know that I have finally, 18 years too late, discovered this group, is to be one of my friends on Facebook because I haven't mentioned it here. See - you are missing a lot if you haven't signed up on that other site.

Watched the first disc of the newest "Evening with Kevin Smith" DVD and found it to be a delight.

Very sleepy, so I'm going to go read some comix and drift to sleep. 5:20 AM comes awfully early, especially on Mondays.

Don't forget...

2008-12-12T10:50:00.003-05:00

Don't forget about the Christmas Carol I recorded a few years ago with the Boiling Springs Christmas Choir. It can be heard on their myspace page and is guaranteed to get you in the holiday spirit!

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Part 1

2008-12-12T09:06:00.002-05:00

Seasons Greetings, folks! Welcome to my latest challenge: the 12 Blogs of Christmas. Will I be able to write 12 posts before the big day on the 25th? I'm not certain, but keep checking back to find out.

So far, one of the highlights of the season has been my introduction to the movie "The Bishop's Wife." This 1947 holiday film has a story similar to that of "It's A Wonderful Life", and in fact, features appearances by most of the child actors from Capra's more-famous movie. It's more than just a knock-off though. Staring Cary Grant as the angel sent to assist the over-worked Bishop played by David Niven, I would recommend it to everyone looking for a new Christmas-favorite.

Of course, I have also been busy exploring the DVD of this summer's block-buster, "The Dark Knight." I'm so glad to finally have that film as part of my collection. They did an incredible job of being the world of Gotham to life, and almost made me forget about past Batman-stinkers like "Batman and Robin."

Yesterday was my niece Grace's big 8th birthday! I was there for her party a few weeks ago, so I know that she had a blast and received a lot of good stuff. I hope that the actual day was just as much fun.

More to follow as we approach the 25th....

Wheelchair Basketball 2008

2008-09-25T21:46:00.008-04:00

I know that I have been gone for a long time - and I never even finished my vacation recap - but the priority today is to let all the visitors to The World of Linnen know about last evenings wheelchair basketball game.

This is an annual event that I attend with a bunch of great folks from my office. There is a rivalry between the NAVSISA officers and the NAVSISA civilians which has led to many historic games over the years. Unfortunately for the officers, I believe the civilians have now won ten straight match-ups, so is it even a rivalry at this point?? I'm not sure - maybe not from where we're standing!

Anyway, we had a great time last night and ended up defeating the military team 8 to 2. My good buddy George is our coach, but this year, he asked me to come up with a line-up for the game. It was a valuable experience and made me realize that he doesn't just rattle off names each year - it actually requires thought.

Everyone rose to the occasion last night; it was beautiful to behold. Great defense, great shooting, great passing. I brought my friend Toly into the fold as a rookie and he really showed us what he was made of! He scored a basket, made many key passes, and was heavy on defense. I was glad that he enjoyed himself.

Sarah snapped this very cool picture of him. Because he was moving towards her, Toly doesn't appear blurry, but everyone around him does. It's pretty neat looking - life is a blur all around him, but he takes time to enjoy the game.

I had a weird experience though. I went up for a lay-up, completely in the clear after a great pass from the Russian rookie, and after five minutes of pushing my chair up and down the court, my elbow locked up! I couldn't straighten out my arm!! It was the worst-looking shot you have ever seen and it went nowhere near the net!! How embarassing!! I actually had to reach over and use my left arm to straighten out my right arm!!!

Luckily I recovered and scored our only basket against the Chairiot Express.

After the game, we headed over to JoJo's Pizza where Mayor Ritter of Mechanicsburg treated us all to a pizza feast! It was a delicious repast with a wonderful group of folks! Thanks, Mr. Mayor!!

Oh, another highlight was having one of the best local news guys around on our team - Mr. Al Gnoza from ABC-27. He played with us two years ago and he is a fantastic guy. Turns out he also knows my friends Heather and Colby - in fact, he has seen them more recently than I have unfortunately. Anyway, he played, did a great job, and then put us on the news! Check it out:

What drops to #3, but climbs to #2?

2008-08-16T23:26:00.000-04:00

What the heck happened to Linnen?

2008-08-16T19:40:00.002-04:00

So where has Linnen been for the past few weeks? Why has this usually red-hot blog been so dark and quiet? Turns out the lad was on his summer vacation!

Seems like a very long time ago, but 2 weeks of work-free fun began on July 31st when Sarah and I traveled to New Jersey with my sister Erin and brother-in-law Mike to see the last night of Bruce Springsteen's three-night run at the Meadowlands. We had a blast! We made the journey with no difficulties whatsoever, so that was good. There was an accident that tied up traffic on the NJ Turnpike for over 24 hours, but it didn't directly affect us.
The concert was great! Bruce's new CD is chock-full of great tunes, and he did four or five of them. Erin was disappointed because he didn't do our official song of the summer, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes", and I'd be lying to say I wasn't disappointed as well. He did sing it the first two nights of the engagement, so I guess he was tired of it. It's one of his best songs though.

He played a ton of old stuff, including almost the entire "Born To Run" album, which is definitely one of my favorites. Someone up front requested an old one called "Incident on 57th Street" which I didn't know, but I really dug it! They also did a smokin' version of "Because the Night", a song that Bruce wrote, but Patti Smith and later Natalie Merchant made famous. They completely rocked through it and Nils, one of the many guitarists that peppered the stage, actually did a sommersault while he wailed on the guitar solo. It was insanely cool!!

The crowd was pretty good considering that there were over 50,000 people in attendence, a huge majority of which were drinking all day long. An annoying woman thought Mike was in her seat even though he showed her his ticket, so she sent security after him - of course, they didn't do anything. The couple next to Sarah were kind of annoying and oversized, so she kept getting skrunched which didn't make her happy. Being a gentleman, I offered to trade seats with her three times, but she refused.

Here's a shot from before the show. Erin and Mike were taking a picture and I did my best impersonation of a great white shark rising out of the ocean depths to get into the frame! Those teeth look sharp!!
We then spent all day Friday and Saturday morning visiting with Erin, Mike, and Grace. We had a great time eating ice cream, swimming, watching TV, and playing. It was an excellent start to our vacation. Saturday afternoon we left for home to start packing for our next journey: westward to Las Vegas!!

Someone's in the kitchen....

2008-08-16T19:16:00.002-04:00

I am forming my own version of Queen with small, cold-cast statues! Some company somewhere in the world manufactured collectible statues of both Freddie Mercury and Brian May, and so I picked 'em up at my friendly local comic store, Comix Connection. I love having 2 of my favorite musicians draped across the top of my piano, although in this picture, they were hanging out in my kitchen.

Speaking of Queen, in case you haven't heard their new song "C-lebrity", here it is!

Drifting to sleep as the sun comes up....

2008-07-27T18:03:00.005-04:00

Ugh. Nothing I hate more than seeing the sunrise. If I am forced to wake up EXTREMELY early and I'm awake to see the sun come up, I kinda hate it, but I can deal with it. On those rare occasions when I am seeing the sunrise and I haven't even been to bed yet, it seriously makes me want to throw up!

Yesterday I spent about 15 hours involved with the new 4th edition of "Dungeons & Dragons." This includes time finishing up my adventure, sitting with the players as they rolled up characters, and then playing the game itself. I'm not even counting all the time I spent writing on Friday night.

We had a blast (I think!) I guess I can't speak for everyone, but I think the five players enjoyed themselves, and I know that I really did. The new 4th edition rules are very cool, in my opinion, and make for a much more interesting game than 3rd edition. I'm not sure why, but 3rd edition never caught my fancy. The excitement I felt as a youngster as I first discovered AD&D will never be duplicated, but 4th edition brought me closer to it than any game since. I'm really glad we are making the switch over!

Unfortunately, since we had to consult the new rulebooks so much during the first few combats, it took a LONG time to play the short adventure I had prepared. It contained a set-up, and 8 room dungeon crawl, and an epilogue, and it almost took us 12 hours to get through it. I think it was great fun though, so it was all worth it.

Anyway, I crawled into bed around 4:30 AM, but I can't get to sleep without reading a few comics. I read the fund-raiser, "Liberty Comics", that came out this week and it was really good. Then I decided to read some stories out of an old Batman archive because the new movie has infected me with Bat-Fever. As I started the second story, I glanced up at my window and noticed some light creeping in.

The feeling that washed over me was indescribable and I almost immediately, as if by instinct, dropped into slumber. My brain didn't like what it saw and knew it couldn't handle seeing more.

Sweet, blissful slumber.

My streak has ended....

2008-07-23T22:43:00.002-04:00

...after a seven-month drought, I have once again returned to the world of burgers. The BBQ bacon cheeseburger at the Pizza Grill was just too much for me to refuse. At least it came with a side salad and not fries. It was delicious.

Took in my second screening of "Dark Knight" afterwards. It was a treat for four of my five senses. Looking forward to seeing it again tomorrow.

And so the first challenge concludes....

2008-07-22T22:11:00.004-04:00

I was planning to go out with a BANG! and write a marathon post for this, the final entry in the 30-Day Challenge, but just as I sat down to write, I received a call from my sister and brother-in-law and we spent most of my pre-bed time discussing the wonderfulness that is "The Dark Knight." I was glad to hear that they both enjoyed it immensely, especially considering that Mike is one of those dreaded "Marvel Zombies."

As it is, let me just point out how great the timing of this 30-Day Challenge was! When I started it a month ago, I didn't even realize that I'd be covering the release of "Dark Knight", my trip to see Yaz, or even my purchase of the new bicycle. I'm only 3 miles away from the 200 mile mark on my odometer, by the way. I'm looking forward to hitting 500 soon!

Let me tell you, before I go, what a thrill the Yaz show was! To see Vince and Alison together was something that I never even considered because they ended their relationship in 1983 and it just didn't see possible that they would team-up again. Alison had such a great stage presence and such a fantastic voice. Many reviewers have commented on how legitimately happy she seemed to be partnered with Vince again and singing these great old songs. I would say that is 100% true. She was having as much of a blast as we were! They performed every song from their debut album "Upstairs at Eric's" (a classic!) and all but one of the songs from their final album "You and Me Both." The only song they skipped was the album closer, "And On." They also did the song "Tuesday" which was on the UK version of "U@E's" but wasn't released here till the 1990s with the "Best of Yaz" compilation. A great time was had by all!!
Well, even though the official challenge has been successfully completed, I'm still planning on keeping the blog going. I'm thinking of a 3 times a week schedule, so check back soon to keep up with all things Linnen. There are some cool events coming up that I'll be reporting on and I've been challenged to create a web-comic, so I just might do that too.

If you are one of the few that have been reading over the course of these 30 days, thanks very much! Your feedback and your support have been sincerely appreciated.

Some Yazoo Pix!!

2008-07-21T00:58:00.002-04:00

It's too late for me to say anything about the concert other than "Vince and Alison were AWESOME!!" Here are some pix to hold you over till I am rested, recovered, and ready to go!

Yazoo

2008-07-20T12:09:00.006-04:00

Way back in 1981, Depeche Mode released their first album, and although most people think of songwriter Martin Gore when they think of Depeche, on this first release, Martin only penned two of eleven songs. Their main songwriter at the time was Vince Clarke, who almost immediately after the release of the first album left the group. He's on the far right on the picture below. Considering how dark the group became after he left, it's funny how he's the only one without a silly smile on his face.
As time went by, Vince would eventually find a musical home with the duo Erasure, who released their first album, "Wonderland", in 1985 and are still going strong today. After 23 years and hundreds of songs, they are still listed in the top 40 most successful UK bands of all time.
However, in-between Depeche and Erasure, Vince spent about a year and a half in another successful duo called "Yazoo." Actually, at some point in that two years, he released songs under the name "The Assembly" as well, but I'm going to ignore that because it's already a confusing timeline!

Yazoo was the team of Vince and vocalist Alison Moyet. You might remember her from her mid-1980s hit "Invisible." It's a pretty good song, but unfortunately, she never caught on in the US like she did in the UK. Yazoo, whose fame in the United States was pretty much limited to dance clubs, was huge in England. They had tons of hits and were beloved by many, even to this day. Their first album, "Upstairs at Erics", was a huge success, as was their follow-up, "You and Me Both", even though, by the time of its release they had already broken up.
I was into Erasure first. I discovered Depeche in 1985, bought all their albums, and found out about Vince by listening to "Speak and Spell", their debut. From there I followed him to the initial Erasure album, and decided that he was my second favorite songwriter after Martin Gore. Reading about his history led me to Yazoo (called "Yaz" in the US), unfortunately a couple years too late.

Both of the Yazoo albums are full of classic techno-pop with a soulful edge, courtesy of Alison's wonderful vocals. I embraced both of their releases as fantastic pieces of pop-music's past, never imagining that I would be able to see them live.

Fast forward to 2008, twenty-five years after the disbanding of Yazoo. Erasure vocalist Andy Bell takes a two year break from the group to work on a solo release and Vince finds himself with a summer off. Instead of resting on his laurels, he and Alison decide to do something no one anywhere saw coming and they reform Yazoo!!

Their plan to play 6 or 7 shows, due to incredible demand, becomes a two-month, world-wide tour, including some television appearances. I'll be seeing them tonight in DC. Tomorrow night will be my penultimate post in the 30-Day blog challenge, so you will be able to read my review of this exciting concert.

As we wrap this thing up, you won't want to miss a single post. Stick around!!

Five Important Points

2008-07-19T12:49:00.008-04:00

1. Fantastic opening day total for "Dark Knight!" Although they haven't yet figured out the exact amount it took in, they know it's somewhere between $60 million and $65 million, which beats the previous record of somewhere around $57 million for the horrible "Spiderman 3." I can't wait to see the weekend totals on Sunday!!

2. Latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has a cover story on "Watchmen." I haven't read it yet(the article, I mean), but it claims the movie will end up being around the same length as "Dark Knight." Is that enough time to do the story the justice it deserves? No, but it sounds like the director is doing the best he can within the studio system. I have hope it will be worth seeing.
3. Speaking of "Watchmen", did you know that there is a MPAA rule that in movie trailers you can't show anyone pointing a gun at the audience? You can do it in a movie, but not in a preview for a movie. It's ridiculous! But as a result, this guy in the "Watchmen" trailer is holding a walkie-talkie and it's cut fast enough that you shouldn't notice it. What a stupid rule! In other parts of the preview, he has a gun....
4. It's really hot here in Linnen's hometown today! It's in the 90s, but with the heat index it's going to feel like it's about 102. Your faithful and loyal blogger doesn't like that! It's keeping me from the ninety minutes of biking I need to do. Maybe later in the day I can get out there and pedal....

4. THIS is Alanis Morissette???? It seems that as more people lose interest in her music, the hotter she gets! I don't know if I would have even known that was her!
5. After only 7 issues, I have quit buying this year's weekly DC comic book series. Last year's series, "Countdown", was terrible, but I followed it till the end because I am a DC zombie. When "Trinity" began and showed not a single, tiny bit of improvement, I just couldn't take it. I'm sorry to not support the weekly comic initiative because in theory I like it, but I've had enough of bad books.

Ugh.

2008-07-18T22:43:00.002-04:00

Tired. Very little sleep all week. Drank too much wine tonight. Nothing to say. Watched "Watchmen" trailer like six times today. You can see it here. Or just go see "Dark Knight." Everyone else is. Huge opening weekend predicted. You know what? The first one struggled to make 205 million. This one will make more than half of that before Monday.

I love it!

Queen Bee saw it today and loved it.

I love this song. It's just a bunch of still pix put to music by a fan, so click "play" and just listen to it as you read. It's not worth watching. Great tune though.

Goodbye for now!

Questionable post

2008-07-18T00:30:00.002-04:00

I am too tired to write anything, so you get this questionable post. I will claim for the rest of my life that it counts as having written something today and that the 30-Day Challenge remains unbroken.

The Day After....

2008-07-16T22:00:00.005-04:00

You know what pisses me off? The fact that there is a Batman movie out there that is not part of my DVD collection!! When will I finally be able to purchase "The Dark Knight" to add it to my home library?? I mean the film has been out since.....well, I guess it hasn't been released yet. It's been 24 hours since I've seen it though. Uncool! I want to see it again!!

Last night was great! My friend Doug treated us like royalty at the IMAX theatre. As we stood, probably 200 people back in line, he came up and led us to a locked elevator. We went up to a floor for which you needed a key and walked down a long hallway. As we passed through the door at the end of the hall, we found ourselves inside the theatre which was still being cleaned after the 7pm media showing! He prompted us to "pick your seats!" and we had our choice from the entire empty theatre!!!

The movie started and we were treated to select scenes from the forthcoming adaptation of Alan Moore's "Watchmen!" It looked incredible! It was a bunch of shots of all the main characters, even Dr. Manhattan, set to some dramatic music. I had many doubts about this project before, and I'm still pretty certain that they will end up cutting out too much of the story to get it to fit in one film, but some of those doubts are now gone. Something I learned from the preview is that it's directed by Zack Snyder, who we all know and love from "300." I hope lightning strikes twice for him. While Batman is my favorite comic character, "Watchmen" is my favorite comic story, so I'll be monitoring this situation closely.

The movie started and it sucks you into the action IMMEDIATELY with some eye-popping shots. I don't want to go into any detail because I loathe spoilers and those who fling them. All I want to say is that I actually told myself to lower my crazy fanboy expectations because there was no way the film could live up to what I was hoping for, but guess what: it did! It is a masterpiece! See it this weekend and decide for youself.

Meanwhile, here is the picture I promised you last night. Me and my friends at the premiere of the 1989 "Batman" movie. I still have some pretty vivid recollections of that night, 19 years ago. It was one of the best times of my life because suddenly the entire country was going crazy for the character that I had been following for over a decade. I felt totally vindicated in my love of Batman, but it wouldn't last long as Warner drove the franchise into the ground over the next decade.

Anyway, enjoy this yellowing picture from right at the end of my youth. Two months after it was taken, I started college and began walking the road of adulthood. I guess I left my cool, long cut-off shorts lying on the side of that road somewhere....

So late, but I had to tell you....

2008-07-16T01:53:00.003-04:00

...the movie was everything I had hoped it would be! In other words - INCREDIBLE!!

I can reveal nothing, so don't ask me! Let me just stress that it was worth the wait, worth all the hype, and the final product makes it obvious what a loss Heath Ledger's death was. This is the Joker from all the best Batman stories - not the campy, clown of crime that we often think of. This is the scary dangerous force of nature who can't be predicted Joker that would frighten the hell out of society in real life!

I'll write some more tomorrow (without spoiling anything) and I have a couple pictures. I also have to tell you how cool my friend Doug is! He came through big-time for us tonight!

For now, I must "zzzzzzzz!"

The moment is almost upon us!

2008-07-15T16:25:00.001-04:00

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Six hours till the lights dim and "The Dark Knight" rolls on the screen in front of me! Today is going by soooooo sloooooowly……

I just want to see this movie!

People have been sending me links to write-ups and reviews all day, and I'm ignoring them all for now. I don't want to know anything ahead of time. Just from seeing article headlines though, it seems like this film is going to be something special!

All the excitement has me thinking back to a summer day in 1989 when me, Beil, Colby, my sister, and her friend Jen spent hours in line to see Tim Burton's "Batman" movie. That was the "Summer of the Bat" and people were particularly into The Joker. It's almost a repeat these days with everyone talking about Heath Ledger's sure-to-be-classic performance. Tomorrow I'll have to scan in the picture from the Patriot of the group of us in line at the Hampden 8 Theatre. The giant button on Colby's back and my home-made shorts are timeless!

Hellboy 2

2008-07-13T22:42:00.005-04:00

Just finished my longest bike ride yet! It was 15.5 miles and I couldn't help but notice my odometer is getting awfully close to 200!

We saw "Hellboy 2" Sunday night with our movie buddies, Rob and Amy. I won't go into it too much, but I have to say what an incredible film it is! I enjoyed the first Hellboy movie, but I was blown away with what they did this time around.

The scale is so epic compared to the first one, and the imagination on display over the course of the two hours will blow your mind. Reading that claim may surprise you until you learn that the writer and director of the movie is Guillermo del Toro, who was nominated for an Oscar last year for "Pan's Labyrinth." While he didn't win, the film did rack up 64 awards and 58 nominations worldwide. Del Toro is a true filmmaker!

I haven't been caught up in a movie like this for a long time. I was actually in awe of what I was seeing numerous times. "Indiana Jones" and "Iron Man" were great recent movies; "Hellboy 2" was a great piece of art!

The fact that Peter Jackson selected del Toro to helm the two "Lord of the Rings" prequel movies makes me so happy now that I have seen what he can do. I have no fears about the future of Middle-Earth!!

Check this out if you haven't seen it - very funny. Hellboy on "Inside the Actor's Studio."

Enough about Hellboy - don't forget about THIS:

Tomorrow is the day I'll be screening the new Batman movie! The excitement here in Linnen's Bat-Cave is palpable and we are just trying our best to go through the motions of everyday life to make it to 10:30 pm Tuesday.

Where did the weekend go??

2008-07-13T22:25:00.004-04:00

Man, due to my five days of training last week, I only had a two-day weekend, and you know, it really wasn't enough! How do you folks get by without three days off each week? It's a killer!

Oh, before I forget! The one cool thing about getting back into the week is that it brings us closer to the big day on Tuesday!
Today I wanted to fill you in on the October 1984 "Detective Comics", issue #543 to be exact:
This was an installment in a tremendous multi-part storyline which featured the return of Nocturna, who was the villain in issue #529, the one I wrote about yesterday. Having her back was cool; having Moench and Colan working on the book was fantastic; having the focus of the story be my buddy Jason Todd was another highlight. However, the main reason to pick up this book was found on the letters page at the back of the book:
Yes, my first published letter in a DC comic! I was so excited to see my name in print - and to get such an informative response from the editor! Too bad he didn't see fit to correct my atrocious grammar! Oh well...I was young.

The craziest thing having the letter in there was that my good buddy Beil called me on the phone after he read the issue (he bought it before I did) and he said "There is a letter in the new issue that asks about the Batman movie!" and he went on to paraphrase the response. We talked about it for a while, but he never caught that it was my letter, so he didn't mention it. Then when I got to the store and bought the issue, it was a surprise.

I had a couple other letters posted over the years, but they never brought with them the same thrill as my first one, which was in the pages of the greatest hero of all, Batman!!

It's a scorcher today!!

2008-07-12T14:08:00.006-04:00

Yup, only three days till my screening of the summer's biggest movie, "The Dark Knight!" I can't wait - but the sad truth is that I am forced to (wait, that is!) Oh well, I will kill some time with a screening of "Hellboy 2" tomorrow. That's supposed to be very good.

Well, here is the comic that turned me from a "fan" to a "collector." After this issue, I deemed it UNACCEPTABLE to miss even a single issue of "Batman." Yup, you guessed it - it's DETECTIVE COMICS #529 from August 1983!!
This book had it all - wonderful artwork by Gentleman Gene Colan (still one of my top three pencilers), a story by one of my favorite Bat-writers of all time, Doug Moench, and best of all, it was the first part of a multi-part storyline. I got in on the ground floor.
Another part of the book that really caught my interest was this young kid, Jason Todd. You see, at some point in the 1980s, Dick Grayson, then the leader of the Teen Titans, quit being Robin. He was no longer living at Wayne Manor and was pretty much on his own in the world, so it didn't seem right for him to still be considered Batman's sidekick. They really didn't work together anymore. As a result, Dick became a new hero named Nightwing.

Anyway, it was quite apparent as I read this book that DC was grooming this new kid to take over as Robin. At this point, he wasn't a hero and Bruce Wayne was against the very idea, but it just seemed like it was going to happen. I didn't know Jason Todd's story or where he came from, but I sure wanted to know where he was going! It blew my mind that there just might be a new Robin! I have picked up a copy of both "Batman" and "Detective Comics" every month since that day, except for a brief period in time where the book was so bad under the guidance of Jim Starlin that I just couldn't handle it. Of course, I started up again when he left and then later got those books as back issues, so it ended up costing me extra money. Bad planning.

Another annoying thing from the time period I quit buying the book was that after 40 or 50 issues with Jason Todd as the new Robin, they started his story over from the beginning and made him a punk kid who grew up on the streets. He was busted trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile and Batman ended up taking him in. It was so lame! Jason was always going against Batman's instructions and getting himself in trouble because he was such a hot head. When DC finally had the Joker kill him, I didn't even care. They had transformed him so much from the kid that originally drew me into the book that I was actually happy to see him go away.

I never understood why they changed him so much. It seemed ridiculous.

Next up, the issue with my first published "letter to the editor!" For now though, I must go swim!!

I'm really starting to drag!

2008-07-11T22:22:00.007-04:00

Hello! I gotta warn you up front: I am sooooooo tired! And the worst part of it is that I'm afraid of short-changing all of you.

Oh, before I go any further, I had better post this:

OK, so here's the thing. I really want you to be able to enjoy the post about "the comic that turned me into a collector", so I'm hesitant to write it tonight. I'm so sleepy that I know I won't do it justice. It's really YOU that I'm looking out for here - you realize that, don't you?

And so, as I waddle off to bed, leaving the promised post unfinished, I will attempt to make it up to you with a picture of me in drag at Halloween.

A good, in-depth Batman post tomorrow - I promise!

Bat-Countdown Continues!!

2008-07-10T21:50:00.008-04:00

We are now only five days away from my buddy-Doug-provided screening of "The Dark Knight!" And to that effect....

In the meantime, see if you can figure out what is significant about this comic:

That is the cover to the first comic I have any recollection of owning, and most likely, there weren't many before it. It was on sale in September of 1976, which would put me at five and a half years of age when I plucked it off the newsstand.

One of the things that I vividly recall from back then was an exciting scene where Batman finds himself in a very un-Dark Knight-ish scene. Take a look at this:

Yes, that is famous Caped Crusader of Gotham City trapped in the middle of a buffalo stampede! Most of you never thought you would see the day; however, it was quite possibly my introduction to the comic adventures of this dread figure of the night!

Another thing about this book that fascinated me was the final page. I remember being so shocked by the ending and "dying" to find out what happened next! I still can picture myself searching desperately for the next issue at the newsstand we used to go to at the Carlisle Plaza. The comics were on the bottom shelf below all the magazines right at the front of the store. I was squatting down on the ground looking all over for #283. I guess I eventually found it, but I don't have great memories of it like I do this issue.

Anyway, here is the way this issue ended:

Can you even believe that??? They shot Batman, point blank, in the back of the head as he was piloting an airplane!! As if the bullet to the brain wasn't enough, they guarantee him a fiery crash as well!! Outrageous! I'm getting fired up over it now; imagine how I was as a five year old!!

So anyway, this is the issue I credit for kicking off my 32 year love affair with the greatest of all superheroes, Batman! So much action between two covers - I still love it! I would say that, from this point on, I was a "comic book fan." I would buy as many as I could get a hold of, but I wasn't yet a "comic book collector." I'll show you the book that caused THAT transformation tomorrow!

Oh, and in case you want to know how Batman survived the bullet to the back of the head, this is how he did it. Even though you can't see the outline of it in the drawing, he was wearing a really hard flight helmet under his cowl, so the bullet never even pierced his skin. I'm not sure why the killers didn't notice the lack of blood or the fact that their bullet was ricocheting all over the cabin, but at age five, I never really thought about it.

More tomorrow - same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!!!

On a roll since June 22nd!!!

2008-07-09T21:59:00.004-04:00

Wow! I have stuck with this 30-day challenge since June 22nd! According to my calculator-like brain, that means this should be the 17th consecutive day of blogging! And the amazing thing is that each and every entry has been incredibly worthwhile - both in terms of you reading it and me writing it. Time well spent for everyone!!

Just watched an excellent movie with my dad - "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. I really like Paul Newman, always have, but I haven't seen too many Redford movies. Let me say this about his performance as the Sundance Kid: I bought it ONE HUNDRED percent! You look at him in that movie and you think you are staring at a real cowboy! What a great job! Newman was wonderful too, playing it relatively light-hearted which makes the famous ending even more emotional when it comes. I liked it a lot. We are recently on a roll with great movies having seen "Glengarry Glen Ross", "Bonnie and Clyde", and now "BC&tSK."

The big news today is the invite I received to a sneak of the summer's biggest movie, "The Dark Knight." Thanks to my buddy Doug, it sounds like I'll get to see it at the IMAX theatre next Tuesday night. I am soooooooooooooo psyched!!!

We are now officially on Batman Countdown!!

Am I up to a challenge??

2008-07-08T21:46:00.006-04:00

My good buddy Nate gave me a blog-challenge this week. He said that the point of the blogosphere is to give a forum to people who get hoppin' mad over things that only they care about. He faults my blog with a general lack of frustration and anger, and really that's because I'm such a nice guy.

The truth is, however, there is something in recent history that has been upsetting me, and up till now, I have remained quiet.

No longer.

I am sooooooo psyched for the upcoming release of "The Dark Knight", moreso than most movie-goers. I have been a Batman freak for most of my life and currently own every issue of the comic from 1964 to current day. Most of my clothes have a bat insignia on them somewhere, as do my favorite blanket and half of my bath towels.

The cast they have assembled for the film is incredible. The director is one of the best currently working in the industry. The writer is a really talented scripter with real comic book experience and only one minor misstep against him ("Blade 3"). It features at least one of the very best Batman villains, maybe two.

And yet, even with all of this going for it, and even with all of my accumulated excitement over next week's debut, something about it has me outraged.

Look at this picture:

Do you see anything wrong with it? Feel free to ignore all the weird, pointless shapes and seams on the suit. I have no clue what they are doing there but I'll forgive them. At least it doesn't have nipples again (see "Batman and Robin" - or better yet, DON'T!!!)

Oh, go ahead and block out the fact that the whole thing is pretty much gray and that you have to strain to see the copyrighted bat emblem on his chest. They pulled that on us the last time around so I'm almost used to it.

Take a look at the lower half of the mask. Once you work your way down below where his ears would be, the whole thing starts to curve inwards and taper to a narrow neck. It looks really weird. It's like the middle of his head is the widest part with a tiny scalp and chin. The horns are curved to look like the taser gun Selina Kyle used in "Batman Returns." It's really odd. The part that makes me angry is the neck though. I can't find a picture that shows it as well as the one that is currently hanging at our local cinema. Even Sarah was criticizing it this weekend when we saw "Hulk", and in that moment, I realized that my anger was righteous!

Here are a few examples of how Batman's mask should be sculpted/drawn. Hopefully you will see that it indeed makes for a more striking figure:

So anyway, I'm still 100% behind the upcoming movie, and I have complete faith that it is going to be great; however, I am outraged that the Bat-suit doesn't look at all like the costume I have loved for 32 years now. Hollywood was so close to getting it right; why not go the last few steps and make it perfect????

I feel like this....

2008-07-07T21:40:00.004-04:00

And because of this, I don't have it in me to write anything of substance or length. You may counter with "You never write anything of substance!" to which I would reply:

The 4-Day weekend is OVER!!

2008-07-06T22:19:00.005-04:00

How did that happen?? It seems like just yesterday I was staring 96 consecutive hours of fun in the face! Now I have to start getting ready for work tomorrow, bright 'n early!! This is outrageous!

Just got back from seeing "The Hulk" with our friends Amy and Rob. While not as awesome as "Iron Man", it was still an excellent movie. The CGI was pretty darn good, I thought, and Edward Norton was perfect casting as Bruce Banner. He's great in pretty much everything though, so it comes as no surprise.
We spent July 4th with Rob and Amy as well, and while we were together that day, we watched the first "Hellboy" movie in preparation of this week's sequel. I had seen it before, but I enjoyed watching it again. I didn't remember as much of it as I thought I did. Sarah liked it too so it looks like we are "GO" for part 2 next weekend. Sweet!!

Oh, I did less than well at the casino last night.

A Quick Follow-Up to Last Night's Post

2008-07-05T11:34:00.003-04:00

I'll write a real post tonight when I get back from the Hollywood Casino, just to let you know how much money I won, but in the meantime, I wanted to post some videos for some of the songs that totally controlled my life in the era I wrote about last night.

Enjoy!

"Stripped" by Depeche Mode

"Strangelove" by Depeche Mode

"Don't Leave Me This Way" by The Communards

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" by The Cure

"Just Like Heaven" by The Cure

"Sometimes" by Erasure

"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead Or Alive

"Human" by The Human League

Hey! That was a good song!

2008-07-05T00:21:00.003-04:00

Whilst working over at the comic shoppe yesterday, Manager Joe and I were talking about music. I think generally we like pretty much the same kinda stuff. He knows WAY more about '90 Brit-Pop and current alternative stuff than I do, but what he plays that I don't know, I DO enjoy.

He was talking about growing up in Perry County and how much music meant to him, which I would think can be said of the majority of of us since we tend to be a bit angsty at that age. There's an question posed in the excellent movie "High Fidelity" (which could be taken right from the excellent book "High Fidelity" but I'm too lazy to get up and check!) :

"Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music? "

Anyway, I'm not here to answer that question, I just went off on a tangent. He said that growing up, he somehow discovered all these bands that weren't popular in his school - Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, The Smiths - and like me, he would pour over import fanzines and music magazines, saving money to get weird imports and bootleg videos. I did the same thing - I mean, in 1986 I was prepared to lay down my life for Depeche Mode. If Martin Gore called me up when I was in eleventh grade and said "I need you to step in front of your school bus tomorrow" - man, I would have done it! I obsessed with anything with Vince Clarke on it as well - Yaz, Assembly, Erasure....

Joe then said that he was the only one he knew that was into these groups and he strutted down the school hallways alone with his cool import t-shirts. It made me realize that I was pretty lucky...

I rarely think about those days of yesteryear unless I'm sitting around the bar with a bunch of friends and we are engaging in the lowest form of conversation - "Remember when...?". And because I rarely do, I always assume that I was pretty miserable back then. Truth is, I really wasn't.

I had a good number of friends who shared the same musical interests as me. We certainly weren't the mainstream, but we were a small band of knowledgeable snobs. My friend to this day Colby got me into Yaz and The Cure. My buddy Beil got me into Depeche Mode. My wife Sarah and I never dated back then, but we talked a lot about music and generally dug the same stuff. There was a bunch of us that hung out and listened to each other's tapes - Communards, Human League, Erasure, Sigue Sigue Sputnick, Human League, etc. Looking back, it was really lucky that I had a group like that, even if I haven't seen most of them in 20 years.

One of my very best memories from those years was at a cast party after one of our musicals. It was at Greg Morgan's house - I don't know what became of him and I was never really all that close to him, but he was a good guy. There was a group of probably 15 of us standing in a circle dancing and singing along at the top of our voices to the Communards "You Are My World" - a song that ever since takes me back to 1986. Putting it in words here makes it seem quite under whelming, but at 16, at a party late Saturday night, with a bunch of friends, sharing in this album with which I was obsessed, it was a great experience. I remember having such a blast laughing and trying to sing as high as Jimmy Sommerville, until someone came down to the basement to say that his parents wanted us to either shut up or play some good music! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and then we moved on to the next dumb thing....

I hadn't thought about it for years until talking with Joe, but I thought it would be valid to write about it here. Maybe adding it to the blog will prevent me from having a mid-life crisis when I hit 40!

I don't have any great observations or lessons to impart based on this pointless bit of reminiscencing, so I hope you weren't too bored by it. I guess I'll proofread it and then maybe head downstairs and crank The Cure's "Just Like Heaven." Or maybe some Depeche - "Master and Servant" might be good....

So much good stuff to choose from!!

Such good intentions....

2008-07-03T22:36:00.002-04:00

I had such good intentions to write one of my most insightful and personal blog posts of all time tonight! I worked a shift in at the comic shoppe today because I was off from my day job, and Manager Joe said something that sparked a thought in my head. "What a good post that would make!" I exclaimed to myself. "I'll have to be sure to do that tonight."

Anyway, I am now exhausted and all I want to do is go lay down and read a few of my new comics before drifting to sleep. The beautiful thing is that the idea will work just as well tomorrow or Saturday, so it doesn't have to posted today. It will make it up here sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, just because blog posts look barren without videos or pictures, here's a link to the Austrian Slick-Meister Falco singing the song "Jeanny" and its sequel "Coming Home" with a symphony orchestra.

Sweet four-day weekend!

2008-07-02T22:10:00.005-04:00

As you know if you have been following the exciting happenings of Linnen, essentially this is my Friday night! I'm cruising into a well-deserved four-day weekend. I've already spent a good amount of time harping on it, so I'll move on.

I was reading a cool article a couple of days ago on Newsarama about the forthcoming "Lightsaber Duel" video game for the Wii, and after a few seconds of consideration, I have deemed it to be extremely cool! Supposedly it is due out in December and while it isn't as delightful as the news about Diablo 3, it still got me worked up because I love Mr. Lucas and a lightsaber battle seems like a perfect workout for the wii remote. It should be great!

Big plans for tomorrow. I'm going to go in and help out at the comic shoppe again and then get a ride in with my friend TC. Sarah has one of those annoying summer colds, so hopefully she will get over that in time to enjoy some of the holiday. Sucks to be sneezing and blowing your nose, but it extra sucks to be sneezing and blowing you nose when it's 90 degrees outside!

Big night tomorrow for my dad and my uncle Ned as they head to NYC to see the Red Sox take on the Yankees! I hope they have a blast and I challenge them both to attempt to beat my five hot dog record.

What a tasty soda!

2008-07-01T22:08:00.005-04:00

Mmmm! I'm drinking a bottle of "Orange 'N Cream Diet Stewart's" soda as I'm typing tonight's blog entry and let me tell you this: This is one tasty treat! Imagine if someone took baby aspirin and crushed it up and carbonated it! That's what this tastes like and it's delicious! I'd recommend it to you if you are trying to lose weight but want a quick treat. Only ten calories!

I had my bike fixed today. After only a month, it wouldn't shift into the lowest 8 gears, which didn't seem good to me. I ran it into Cole's Bicycle Shop in Carlisle and they got it up in the rack immediately. Turns out it was my own fault! I installed a mount to hold an air pump and the mount was in the way of the derailer. D'uh! My friend Rob and I both spent time looking at it last week and didn't even notice it. Oh well - they said that the cables needed tightening anyway because they had been all stretched out from riding. That happens to new bikes evidently which is why they recommend a 60-day check-up when you buy one. The folks at Coles have been great to me each time I have been in and I really enjoy their shop.

I found this great illustration on the web and wondered if you all had seen it. It's the secret of the old Pac-Man video game revealed for the first time. It's actually kind of clever:
I played a pretty fun new game tonight with my buddies Nate, TC, and Julie. It's called "Pandemic" and it's one of those new-fangled cooperative games that I enjoy so much. All the players actually work as a team to try to defeat the game itself. As is usually the case, it's really difficult and we lost two games, but it was very fun.

You may have missed the announcement from my earlier posts, but tomorrow is my Friday. Thanks to the holiday and my regular Friday off, I will be celebrating a four-day weekend. Very sweet! I'm hoping to not only celebrate Independence Day, but also make a lot of progress in my reading of the new 4th edition D&D books (nerdy, I know!) and get a couple good bike rides in.

Oh, and speaking of games, check out this cool little online game that I found today. It's pretty sweet, uses only the arrow keys, has scary music, and it will cause an extreme case of DISORIENTATION!!

That's it; I'm outta here. See you all tomorrow!!

Monday falls and my week is 1/3 over!

2008-06-30T20:46:00.002-04:00

Yup, my new 10-hour day schedule gives me every Friday off, but this Friday is a federal holiday. As a result, my regular Friday off slides to Thursday, which if you're keeping track, means that my work week is already 1/3 over. Very sweet!

The bad side of all this is that with a 10-hour work day, there isn't much time for other cool things to happen, which means I don't have much to tell you. Just got back from a nice 11 mile bike ride, and I'm going to settle in with the latest "Walking Dead" trade as soon as I'm done here.

I have remained psyched all day about the forthcoming Diablo 3, but I really need to get over it. It isn't going to be out for at least a year.

Oh, something cool DID occur today! The teaser trailer for the next James Bond movie came out!! It looks extremely sweet - picking up right from the end of the previous installment. I'll embed it here from YouTube because I like you so much, but keep in mind you can watch a much nicer Quicktime version of it right here. I love me some Bond!!

INCREDIBLE NEWS!

2008-06-29T21:38:00.003-04:00

I never thought I would see the day; however, this weekend Blizzard announced the upcoming release (no date given) of DIABLO 3!!!

Incredible! And here's the best part of the whole announcement...

"It'll feature the return of Deckard Cain (the old dude from the last two who crooned "Stay a while, and listen!" when you clicked him)."

My old friend! I've been a huge fan of Mr. Cain for almost a decade now! It'll be wonderful to have him back!!

Check out the details HERE!!

The doubters said it would never happen...

2008-06-29T16:47:00.002-04:00

...but my bike odometer passed 100 miles during this afternoon's ride. This, coupled with today's re-dedication to the consumption of salad, should put to rest all the folks who think I'm going to slide back to my lazy, gluttonous ways!

Would you like some bacon with your bacon?

2008-06-29T14:33:00.005-04:00

Just returned from a late breakfast. The best thing about it was the thick-cut bacon which I enjoyed with my eggs. As serious Linnen scholars know, I'm partial to that tasty, tasty bacon!

Hans, Missy, and Siena are gone, motoring back home even as we speak. You can check out their progress on their blog, TurkeyBaby. That Siena is a real cutie! Her dad, not so much! :)

Woke up today and immediately began downloading video from Queen's performance Friday night at Hyde Park. It's up on YouTube but I want to be able to burn a DVD of it, so I need it as a larger file. Here it is just to watch and enjoy on your PC.

Great stuff! A bunch of time has passed since I started this because I was busy watching those videos again. I love those guys! Awesome musicians!

Looking forward to visiting the cinema tonight to see the new Pixar movie, "Wall-E." Seems like kind of a weird one, but I'm sure it will be good. In any regard, I bought a big box of candy already so at least I'll enjoy that!

Shook up the traditional Linnen-look today by shaving my head WITHOUT having a van dyke. Usually I don't shave the head unless I have some facial hair, but I wanted to try it out. Here's an artist interpretation for how I usually look and how I actually look today:

I'm handsome either way...as you know!

We went to a big birthday bash for our friend Kathie yesterday and I was able to log hour after hour of pool time! I enjoyed pelting people under tents and on the deck with balls, floating on rafts, and dunking our friend Amy. I wasn't as fond of the times when Amy retaliated, but that's OK. Lots of good food and good folk. It was a great afternoon. Makes me wish I had a pool too, but one of those pools where someone else does all the work to maintain it....

I have to go log some bike time. More later!

A quick one for Slacker Saturday!

2008-06-29T00:15:00.007-04:00

I've been busy swimming and playing games all day and long into the night. Almost forgot to even type up a few token sentences. Tomorrow's entry will be kick-ass, but today I'm just going to put up a couple pics from two big concerts last night.

The first two are from the big Mandela Birthday Bash in Hyde Park. My favorite group Queen closed out the show with 6 songs - "One Vision", "Tie Your Mother Down", "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", and "All Right Now." Earlier in the show, Brian May joined the lead singer of the Corrs for a version of "Is This The World We Created?"

The other pics are from the big Rock Band concert that occurred in my living room. Lots of energy and musicianship on display...along with my big bald head!

Enjoy!!

The Big Announcement

2008-06-27T23:20:00.005-04:00

The clock is nearing the hour of midnight, which means I have to get this in to keep my streak going; however, downstairs a group of my friends are rocking away on "Rock Band" and I have an itch to sing a little Bowie. It's going to have to be brief.

I promised a big announcement for today (and if you are checking this out only because my father hyped it up to you for the past 24 hours then I apologize! You really aren't going to care!) However I truly can't think of anything bigger or more fitting for World of Linnen than this:

Today, I worked my first shift as a counter monkey at my favorite store in the world, The Comix Connection!

Yes, maybe most late-thirties men wouldn't jump at the chance to spend your day off in a comic store, but I was on it like ugly on an ape! I had a blast chatting with folks about books, bagging and boarding, and getting some inside scoops on my favorite hobby. In the days of yore, I used to bag and board comics for hours for free for my Cousin Tony, so to do it and get paid is pretty sweet. Bill (the owner) and Joe (the manager) are both great guys, and while we were busy doing stuff most of the time, it was still quite enjoyable. I won't be in the store too often...every other Friday pretty much unless they would need someone to fill in on a shift at some point. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love the place, so it's cool to get involved with it on a different level.

Well, I gotta go rock! More tomorrow!!

Oh baby Jesus, please end this pain!

2008-06-26T21:52:00.006-04:00

Oh dear lord!

For some reason, I accepted an invitation to play basketball with two of my youthful and energetic friends, Toly and Cody. Keep in mind that I haven't played b-ball (other than wheelchair b-ball) in probably two decades, and that starting up with two guys who are 13 years my junior is what we call in the business "a terrible decision."

I was really no factor in the crazy three-man game we played, a game known by the enigmatic title "33." As you can guess, we played till someone reached 33. I think that the closest I got was like 15 or something, which is pretty good considering that my feet only left the ground once and it felt like I had two separate and distinct heart attacks as we played. The lads were nice and didn't make me feel too badly about my lackluster performance.

When we were done, I hurried home to go bike riding with three of my friends. We covered 12 miles, which normally wouldn't bother me too much; however, tonight, after the first mile, I was really feeling it. Evidently 75 minutes of basketball before a ride doesn't agree with me! There were stretches where I really doubted that I could make it, but never underestimate the strength of shame. I climbed ever hill just a little bit behind everyone else.

We finally finished; I showered up, and then the pain began. Every muscle from my thighs down to my toes (really!) has been cramping up for the past two hours. It feels quite horrible. As soon as I'm done here, I simply must away for a handful of Advil...or maybe just good ol' Tylenol. MMMMMM....so tasty!

People, I am dying!! I am practically begging for sweet, sweet release from that cute lil' baby Jesus, and you expect me to blog! I have already said too much! Just watch this video until tomorrow when I will make a major annoucement.

Me and Larry King!

2008-06-25T21:31:00.003-04:00

Man! Many, many years ago, during Olympics of some sort, Larry King (who was doing a radio show at the time, not his CNN TV show) did some sort of marathon run of shows that he referred to as "30 Nights." He was always going on about how vigorous he was to be soldiering through so many consecutive nights of broadcasting, but at the same time he was actually falling asleep during interviews and completely misunderstanding questions and comments from callers. It's pretty hilarious.

Well, as I slide into Day 3 of my 30 Day Blogging Guarantee (coupled with my new 10-hour work day(coupled with my new-found love of biking)), I am feeling quite Larry King-ish. I have a feeling if I was broadcasting live over the airwaves right now, I would be barely coherent.

Watched the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" tonight with my dad. It is from 1967 and stars Warren Beatty and the beautiful Faye Dunaway. I think maybe the only other movie I have seen with Ms. Dunaway was "Supergirl" way back in the early 1980s, and I really have no recollection of it. However, I was quite taken with her performance in this movie. She was extremely hot, had a wonderful accent, and who can resist a blonde with a machine gun anyway??

Excellent movie, but what I took away from it was the opening scene where she stands in front of the window naked. Of course, it being 1967 you don't see anything, but she was quite shapely.

Very good flick! Having said that, I think I'll retire for the evening! Tomorrow is my Friday!

Stopping for Ice Cream and other Tuesday Stuff

2008-06-24T22:09:00.009-04:00

Something has been brought to my attention tonight: it is not really all that fun to sit and watch others eat ice cream when you have none.

It seems almost like it should take only common sense to realize this, I know. But even when one of the people enjoying the frosty treat is someone as funny as my buddy TC, it's still a drag. Add to this the almost overwhelming need to urinate and you have a situation envied by almost no one.

I enjoyed yet another fine ten-hour work day, and as Tuesday came to end, I realized that C.O.B Tuesday is now my "hump day." Wednesday is on the downhill-side of the week for me! Nice!

I thought about buying some new sunglasses today but backed out at the last minute. Wasn't quite ready to make the commitment.

Today was our monthly "BFL" (pronounced "Biffle" for those not in the know.) "BFL", of course, stands for "Breakfast For Lunch" and as usual I found myself at the Mechanicsburg Bob Evans enjoying a delicious plate of eggs-over-medium, bacon, and hash browns. MMMMM! I loved it! With me were BFL staples Jo Lyn, Toly, and the muscle-bound Cody. Many of our fellow BFL'ers were unable to attend this month, but we still had fun. And speaking of the energetic 24-year-olds Toly and Cody, for some reason I have agreed to play basketball with them on Thursday. What the hell is wrong with me??

Just heard back that my screen test for the upcoming film "The Hobbit" went over really well with the studio execs! I'm looking forward to playing an elf in the much anticipated fantasy adventure!

Well, it's getting late and I have to read a few comics before turning in. I will accept that this installment of my blog is even more worthless than most previous entries; however, I certainly came through in terms of getting the words up on the screen. No one can say that I'm not living up to my promise to bring you 30 straight days of drivel!

Talk to you tomorrow. It'll probably be a movie review because it will be a post-Wednesday movie night entry.

Wow! Two in a row!!!

2008-06-23T20:40:00.004-04:00

Quite a streak - blogging two days in a row! What a display of incredible dedication!!

Speaking of dedication, have you seen the new addition to my life? I received a nice check from the Commonwealth of PA to reward me for buying a hybrid car, so I put that money towards a hybrid bicycle! She's a beauty:

Unlike the hybrid car which runs on both gas and battery power, the hybrid bike simply means that it is a road bike that can also go off road. It's propelled purely by the power of Linnen!

Anyway, I have begun my effort to pedal my way to good health! This, coupled with my new habit of eating salad, can only lead to great things.

Meanwhile, I have been busy reading through the latest edition of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. Even though I was actually begging my friends to quit playing D&D just a few short months ago, I was so intrigued by these new rules that I had no choice but to go out and get the manuals myself.

So far, I am really enjoying most of the changes the authors have made to the veteran game system. I am much more enthusiastic about 4th edition than I ever was about 3rd edition and I'm looking forward to playing soon.

Well, I'm tired from my kickoff 10-hour workday. Overall, I'd say it was a success as the day really didn't seem much longer than a 9 hour day. I did have to wake up an hour earlier though, but I did alright with that. I hope I will continue in that vein tomorrow morning.

See you in 24!

Wow! It's been a long time!

2008-06-22T20:38:00.005-04:00

It really has been a long time since my last post, but the funny thing is that the last post still seems as current and vital as today's headlines! I guess I'm just that kind of writer...the INCREDIBLE kind!!

It is Sunday night and I am preparing for my first ten-hour workday! After many years of working 9 hour days and having every other Friday off, I have decided that I need a change, so I will now have EVERY Friday off. Yes, that IS fantastic - and I'm sure my friends will quickly tire of hearing about my three-day weekends - however, now that it's Sunday night, I'm dreading what a ten-hour workday is going to feel like! I have to get up an hour earlier or I will get home so late that they'll be no daylight for me to enjoy. 5:30 seems EXTREMELY early.....

I hope it's all worth it.

And as if that isn't enough of a change in the life of Linnen, I have decided to take the "30 Days of Blogging" challenge at the same time! Will I be able to blog for 30 consecutive days considering that my current average is probably 2 entries a year? Will I be able to blog for 30 consecutive days considering that I really have nothing to say?? Stick around and see, True-Believers!!

Finally, here is a brief clip from our local Harrisburg ABC affiliate. It aired last night on the 11pm news and features a few familiar faces.

See you tomorrow...bright and early!!

Absolute proof that Greedo fired first!

2007-10-20T13:58:00.000-04:00

Thanks for Bill Wahl for doing all the work and finding this hilarious clip. All I had to do was steal it from his excellent site: Comix Connection.

Thanks Bill!

In the time since we last met.....

2007-10-20T13:34:00.000-04:00

...here are some of the things that have been rocking my world and occupying my time.

1. The release of Talisman 4th edition! Yes, a new version of the infamous magical quest game Talisman! Long-time BlueZone fans will know that the complete 2nd edition Talisman has occupied a spot on my game shelf since 1990 and was a favorite during the time I lived in Mowrey Mansion at Shippensburg University. It's great to have the game back in print with a huge new board and great-looking artwork; however, I really wish they took more time to make the game more playable and tighten the rules. The way I see it, without house-rules, you are still kinda lost. A valuable opportunity has gone to waste, unless they release some sort of new rulebook through their website.

2. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. My brother-in-law Mike snagged a pair of tickets for my sister Erin and me and we were able to attend the first night in Philly two weekends ago. What a great show! The new CD "Magic" is a great one - I probably like it better than "The Rising" which was the album that got me into Bruce (only 20 years behind everyone else in the world) - and the band really seemed to be having a blast blasting through a great mix of old and new songs. Bruce was in great voice and the crowd was pretty good for a "classic rock" show. A great time was had by all!

3. One week until the release of "Guitar Hero 3." It's all very exciting because I never had a game console before, but now that I have a Wii, I can get in on the action. Looking forward to rocking out to the Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers!

4. Mad Men. Have you seen this? It's a wonderful bit of original programming on AMC from the pen of Matthew Weiner, formerly a writer on The Sopranos. The first season just ended last Thursday night and it went out on such a high note! I think AMC is going to run it again from the beginning starting next week, but that won't numb the pain of having to wait till summer 2008 for season 2. Check this out if you get a chance!

5. Running. Yup, in an attempt to not be so fat, I have started running. It isn't fun, and I'm not tremendously good at it, but at least I was able to buy an expensive pair of crazy looking shoes to do it. I don't even know if it's worth the effort, but I'll do it for a while. Exercise is quite painful when you are old, isn't it?

6. My buddies. We had a rare get-together of a bunch of old friends last weekend down at my pub and it was a blast. I was able to see my ol' Talisman buddy Jimmy C, my good friend Colby who lives very close but I never see, and Beil who has lived in Delaware for a long time now. It was really fun getting the group back together to play games, imbibe, and goof off. I hope we can do it again before too long.

7. The Mission is breaking up. I hate this actually. They have been one of my favorite bands for almost 20 years, but now they are calling it quits. The massive success that they enjoyed in Europe during the mid-to-late 1980s didn't repeat itself in the 90s and 2000s, so I guess they are just tired of trying. I can't blame them, but I hate to see them go. Thanks for the decades of music, Wayne!

8. Oh yeah, and this video, but don't watch it if you are easily offended. It's 53 seconds of hilarious profanity!!

I have so much to say, yet....

2007-10-07T00:48:00.000-04:00

...I'm so very sleepy. As I go off to bed, take this time to anticipate all the great things I have to tell you, AND enjoy this mix of Depeche Mode's "A Pain That I'm Used To" from their classic CD "Playing the Angel." It was mixed by techno-pop newbies Marsheaux, and they hit it out of the park! One of the best remixes I have heard in a long while.

More to follow!

Some Things I Wish I Never Said

2007-09-24T21:50:00.001-04:00

"This is easily the best one since the first movie!" - I said this on opening day of "Batman and Robin", one of the greatest crimes ever committed to filmstock. I have no excuse for it.

"There is no way they are going to be just a one-hit wonder!" - I said this in response to my friend Beil when he dared to impugn the good name of 80s band Boys Don't Cry. I was quite taken with their one and only hit "I Wanna Be A Cowboy."

"It seems like it might be a good story." - My reaction to a mid-1990's Superman story story where they split the Man of Steel into two different people with all new powers and costumes. He was now electricity based and the comic was nigh-unreadable.

"They are the new Beatles!" - I mentioned this to my dad at the height of Culture Club's popularity and he has never let me live it down. Having said that, I still enjoy all of Boy George's music - even to this day. His "Cheapness and Beauty" album was criminally overlooked.

Just stop making Highlander movies....Please!

2007-09-23T01:37:00.000-04:00

Many, many years ago, when I was still in college, I was introduced to the movie "Highlander." I look back on the film fondly for many reasons - some great visual work from director Russell Mulcahy, the presence of actress Beatie Edney (who I have never seen anywhere other than in her two Highlander appearances, but I would like to!), Sean Connery (a man who raises any movie's rating by a couple stars just by showing up for work), and of course because of the wonderful soundtrack by my boys, Queen!

I enjoyed "Highlander" more so than most Americans - the film pretty much was DOA when it opened here in the states in 1986. In other parts of the world though, it was quite popular, popular enough to warrant a string of sequels and a TV series. As a result, the world has been made to suffer the existence of such mind-numbing silliness as "Highlander 2", "Highlander 3: the Final Dimension" and now the worst of all Highlander product, "Highlander: The Source."

"Highlander: The Source" was to be a wonderful first installment of a new trilogy of films intended to set the world on fire. At one point, the production company actually claimed that New Line Films was looking to distribute the films and hoped that they would fill the void left by the completion of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" series. Unfortunately, by the time it was finished, "The Source" was so bad that no company wanted to release it to theatres in the US, so it premiered as a SCI-FI channel "original" film.

Dear God this thing was terrible! It takes place in the near future where society has turned quite horrible. Cities are urban zoos where criminals run rampant and stuff is on fire for no real reason, islands are populated by cannibalistic motorcycle gangs, and of course, all the planets in the solar system are, for some strange reason, moving out of orbit in order to line up in a straight line out from the sun. Only one scientist seems to be concerned (or even notice this) and as luck would have it, he is an Immortal. He contacts the leader of the Immortals, Methos, to let him know about the planets and Methos, in his infinite wisdom, decides the best course of action is to let depressed swordsman Duncan McLeod know about this.

If you don't know who the Immortals are in "Highlander", here's a brief rundown. The Immortals fight each other for the right to claim "the Prize". They are Immortal until they are killed (yes, you read that right. Don't complain to me - I didn't make it up.) In the first movie, Connor McLeod became the last living Immortal and claimed the Prize. After that there were four more movies where other Immortals happened to show up and it turned out that Connor didn't really ever win the Prize. I think maybe one of the characters even says "You thought you won the Prize, but you didn't!" Then in the fourth movie, Connor is killed before the end of the very contest he won in the first movie. Now he will never get to win the Prize even though he had won it or at least deluded himself into thinking that he had. Oh, at the end of the first movie, he hooked up with the lovely police scientist Brenda, but then in the second movie we learned that she died due to radiation poisoning when Earth's ozone was destroyed. And then in the third movie we learned that she died in a car accident.

I'm being serious.

Anyway, this is making me angry so I'm going to stop. I was going to go on to explain what was so terrible about "Highlander: the Source" and why I was so disappointed by it, but I was stupid to ever assume that it was going to be good! I should have learned from the past. Me taking the time to make fun of it is like mental masturbation - it's boring and serves no real purpose. I'm embarrassing myself by acting surprised that it sucked.

Highlander has given us one truly fantastic thing though, and here it is. One of the greatest songs ever written. I've heard it 1,000 times and it can still occasionally give me chills. Enjoy!

Stuff I found on my PC

2007-09-02T01:48:00.000-04:00

Here are some things of note that I found on my PC as I sat here listening to The Mission UK while drinking cider and exploring the dark corners of my hard drive:

Lucas Drampt

Here is a drawing I did in MS-Paint of Lucas Drampt many years ago. Who is Lucas Drampt you ask? He is a diabolical businessman who would pester the superheroes in the homemade comic books I made years ago. He was the leader of S.K.U.L.L Labs. I'm sure that "S.K.U.L.L." stood for something incredibly evil since it has all those periods in it, but I was always too lazy to ever come up with anything. The possibilities are endless though.

Heavy Metal Killer at Hershey Park

Yup, it's a drawing I did of some sort of murderous death metal fan. You can tell he is evil because not only does he have a "666" tattoo and blood red eyes, he also listens to death metal. You might also notice that he is carrying a severed head with him as he makes his way either to or from Hershey Park. He is probably not coming FROM Hershey Park as it IS the "friendliest place on Earth" and getting decapitated by a death rocker as you wait in a two-hour line for The Great Bear doesn't really seem all that friendly.

Hey - my glass is empty!! Need more cider now!!!

Dear lord, this is just ridiculous!

2007-09-02T00:28:00.000-04:00

I went to this website called GameDaily BIZ and I learned that Hollywood is preparing to make a movie based on Joust. JOUST!!

If you aren't old like me, you may not realize how stupid that is. Joust is a video game that we used to like back in the 1980s. It came along after Pac-Man but before Double Dragon II. Let me show you what Joust looked like:

That's all there is to it. How do you make a movie out of that??

On another site, Newsarama, I learned that in order to "launch the new Joust franchise" even before the movie's release, they are making a Joust comic book.

Has the world gone mad??

In Joust, you are a warrior who ...well...JOUSTS...on the back of some sort of oversized winged bird against other warriors who are also riding oversized winged birds. When you defeat an opponent in combat, their bird lays an egg and flies away. You have to fly over that egg then to crush it before it hatches into another oversized bird that will try to fight you. Meanwhile, you have to watch out for the fiery hand that reachs up out of the lava at the bottom of the screen because if it catches you, it pulls you into a horrible death in the molten rock.

Oh, and every now and again a pterodactyl flies across the screen and you just have to avoid him because there is no way to kill him.

What a movie that all is going to make!!!

I'm going to go drink a bit. Maybe I'll post something later when I'm too tipsy to remember how much hollywood sucks!

Can you talk about Erasure w/o mentioning Yazoo?

2007-08-27T20:30:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I droned on about how wonderful erasure and Vince Clarke really are. Well, a few days later, my love for all things Clarke has regressed back a few more years to 1982 and 1983 and I'm now ready to tell you that you must go listen to his earlier band, Yazoo (Yaz in America!)

Yaz was a duo comprising Vince and the mega-talented vocalist/songwriter Alison Moyet. I think they would both be impressed to see how I properly used the word "comprising" in the previous sentence. Many folks would have typed "a duo comprised of" and that's not correct.

Anyway, in only two albums they released some of the best songs of the 1980s - "Situation", "Don't Go", "Nobody's Diary", and their classic "Only You".

Once the two went their separate ways, Alison recorded about five records, starred in stage musicals, had kids, came out of the closet, and (for most of the '90s), was kinda hot. Here she is singing one of my favorite Yazoo songs which she remade for her 4th solo album, "Essex."

Heh! This delighted me to no end!

2007-08-25T10:39:00.000-04:00

Delightful! Now how come I didn't think to do this?

I love seeing my boyz in Lego-mation!! Good stuff!!

This is my current favorite thing!

2007-08-24T10:01:00.000-04:00

No time to type my usual drivel, but my ol' buddy Missy just sent me this and I LOVE it! Had to post it here the millions that check out my blog each day could see it.
Enjoy!

Erasure is 'effing FANTASTIC!!!

2007-08-20T21:22:00.000-04:00

You know what, all throughout the 1980s and the first half of the '90s, Erasure was almost the greatest band around! They may have only had three hits in America ("Chains of Love", "A Little Respect", and "Always") but most critics and dancehall denizens caught on to them early and gave them their props. Then, in the latter half of the 1990s and early 00's, they kinda went astray. They were never terrible, but albums like their self-titled effort and "Loveboat" just didn't impress like they used to.

But you know what? The last three years have brought about an Erasure renaissance! "Nightbird" from about two years ago was easily the best thing they had done since "Chorus" in 1990/1991 and ranks in their top three CDs ever. Earlier this year, they released "Light at the End of the Tunnel" which also blew me away. I don't know how these boys are still writing songs this good! Vince Clarke is still a techno-pop gawd at the top of his game! Don't believe me - check out "I Could Fall in Love with You".

You'll come around!

Batman: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2005-12-13T22:08:00.001-05:00

(Originally published at ComixConnection.com)

Last Wednesday I bought two excellent books, Matt Wagner's BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN and Andrew Helfer's BATMAN: JOURNEY INTO KNIGHT, both limited series and both dealing with the Caped Crusader's early adventures.

Once you get past the fact that the phrase "Journey into Knight" really doesn't mean anything (it just looks cool!), you'll find that this series is actually rather good. The few Andrew Helfer stories I have read before impressed me, which is why I bought this even though the artwork didn't. If you ever stumble across issues of Helfer's DC series THE SHADOW, pick them up. It's a sometimes disturbing, sometimes "laugh out loud funny" comic. I think you will really like it, even if you don't care about the Shadow.

Matt Wagner has been a force to reckon with ever since the publication of "Mage" many years ago. His art here is clean and deceptively simple, and his story is top-notch, although admittedly we're not too far into it at this point. Julie Madison, Dr. Hugo Strange, and Bruce doing the "bored playboy" act at a posh social affair - all stuff a Bat-Fan will love!

But the thing that made these two books shine the most was that they featured Batman - the REAL Batman - and not the Batman of current continuity whose anger, anti-social behavior, and general unfriendliness has pushed away everyone he once called a friend.

As a Batman fan, I have put up with way too much "bad stuff" in recent history:

1. Leslie Thompkins betraying both her Hippocratic Oath and Bruce by letting the Spoiler (then Robin) die. Why did she do this? To teach Bruce a lesson - a lesson he had already learned years ago when Jason Todd was murdered.

2. "War Games" in general - from Batman being too dumb to realize that it was his "master plan" tearing apart Gotham to his attempt to take over the police department to Barbara Gordon needlessly destroying her headquarters, this story was just an insult to our brains.

3. Commissioner Gordon being replaced by the bland Commissioner Akins. I can't believe they have let this replacement go on for so long. I miss the old guy - especially after seeing him on the big screen last summer.

4. David Lapham's 12-part story in "Detective Comics." It really seemed to have potential at first, but somewhere along the line it crumbled into a huge, boring mess - you know, the same boring mess that "Gotham Knights" has been since it's inception. GK's rumored cancellation would be a mercy-killing at this point.

5. Miller's "Batman in Sin City" storyline in "All-Star Batman": I wanted desperately to enjoy that book, but with dialogue like "What, are you retarded? I'm the #&*-!@&%$# Batman!" it's really hard to. The art looked fabulous, but it only ended up making me think back to when Frank knew how to write super-heroes. His "Sin City" books are great and I'll keep buying them, but from now on, anything he does with a cape in it gets an automatic pass from me.

Wow! This started out so positive, but look where it ended up - me whining and complaining. Oh well - I do this because I care. I have been reading Batman for almost 30 years now, and I have never considered him to be in worse hands. Well, except for when Larry Hama was writing the book. Anyway, all this makes me appreciate the good stuff when it comes out, and like I said "Monster Men" and "Journey into Knight" is good stuff. Check it out!

Touring the Angel 2005

2005-12-13T22:08:00.000-05:00

The weekend was officially kicked off last Friday night at the Patriot Center in Virginia where my lovely child-bride and I, along with our good friends Hans and Missy (names changed to protect the innocent), attended a concert event starring one of the greatest bands ever - Depeche Mode. They are touring in support of their fantastic new CD "Playing the Angel" which you should listen to if you haven't already. It's really an impressive release, especially considering that DM has been together for 25 years now. Veteran bands aren't supposed to make music this vital or this creative. "PTA" blows away their last two CDs, and stands as the first post-Alan Wilder release to rival their classic albums from the 80s/early 90s.

Both Martin and Dave were in excellent voice and Fletch played keyboards like a madman (meaning he didn't really do too much other than talk to himself and wave his arms in the air!) Martin always seems uncomfortable when he sings his songs in front of an audience, but this time he projected more confidence than I have ever seen from him. I'm not saying he came off like a perfect frontman, but he made some attempts to connect with the crowd and act a little bit crazy. Usually he just stands there waving his hands in weird patterns. It was cool to see him drop to his knees at the edge of the stage to let the crowd strum his guitar - very rockstar-ish!

Dave, the band's actual frontman, always puts on a good show, and Friday was no exception. He really shined during "Enjoy the Silence" and "Never Let Me Down Again" - two of the group's biggest hits, but even during the new material he did a great job of keeping the crowd into the show. New material can often be the kiss of death for an older band in concert, but generally DM fans are pretty good at staying current. That's one of the things I like about seeing them in concert.

Anyway, my 8th DM concert was awesome and I anxiously await my 9th - whenever that will be. Being there with our friends who have dug the band for as long as we have was great! We all acted like big freaks when Martin came out for the first encore to sing "Somebody" (from "Some Great Reward")- singing along with our arms draped over each others shoulders. What a fun evening!

Dave recently said that being in the band is more fun now than it ever has been, and that there will indeed be more Depeche albums in the future. I, for one, can't wait!!!

Set List:

A Pain That I'm Used To
John The Revelator
A Question Of Time
Policy Of Truth
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Suffer Well
Damaged People
Home
I Want It All
The Sinner In Me
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence

Encore #1
Somebody
Just Can't Get Enough
Everything Counts

Encore #2
Never Let Me Down Again
Goodnight Lovers

Infinite Crisis!

2005-10-21T17:46:00.000-04:00

20 years ago, DC Comics tried to streamline their different "universes" in the limited series "Crisis on Infinite Earths." You see, they had numerous dimensions where different characters lived, and to some evidently, it was confusing. The end result of "Crisis" was one single Earth which was made up of pieces of the various universes. Not everyone made the transition though - as the series' tagline promised: "Worlds will live. Worlds will die." Also marked for extinction were the Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen) and Supergirl, amongst others. As a 14 year old, I was completely caught up in the excitement of seeing hundreds and hundreds of DC characters all in one book. It was fantastic!!

As we prepare to wrap up 2005, DC has released issue #1 of a new limited series called "Infinite Crisis", and the excitement generated by this new series matches or blows away that of the first one! I think the goal of this series is the less-specific "define the DC universe for the next generation" but that's OK. I don't insist upon a well-written mission statement for each of my comics. I would rather sit back and let the story unfold without having it ruined by spoilers or advertising information.

And the coolest thing of all is that Geoff Johns' incredible story, combined with my failure to mature over the past twenty years, has resulted in me being massively psyched by this book! That past year has been a great one for DC as they made it clear that they are the authority on superhero comics, and for the next six months, it's just going to keep getting better!

To the batcave!!!!

Sunday 10/16/05 at the Meadowlands

2005-10-17T22:12:00.000-04:00

After many months of waiting, last night marked the big Queen + Paul Rodgers concert at the Meadowlands. It still seems incredible that I was a stone's throw away from Roger Taylor and Brian May, two of the legendary members of the band Queen! In one of the worst examples of poor timing, I got into Queen late in 1990, only months before Freddie Mercury passed away, and I NEVER thought I would have the opportunity to see the boyz on stage rockin' through the songs I love so much.

The concert was incredible! The lights dimmed and over the speakers came a dance mix of their song "It's a Beautiful Day." The place went wild! Because the group is only playing two shows in the US, tickets were really hard to come by and it seemed that most people there were serious fans! Makes sense....

Anyway, then Paul Rodgers came out alone, walking down the large catwalk that shot out from the stage, singing a few verses of a tune called "Reaching Out". That song then segued into the famous guitar riff from "Tie Your Mother Down" and Brian May shot out from behind the stage, running down the catwalk to join Paul as the full band kicked in. The evening had begun!!!

I know that Queen + Paul Rodgers is not the same as Queen - it's been said a thousand times and it is true: You can't replace Freddie Mercury. But Paul is a brilliant frontman and a hell of a singer. He seemed to be having a blast giving us the opportunity, the first one in 25 years, to celebrate the music of Queen. He rocked his way through "Tie Your Mother Down", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (and his own tune "Bad Company") in rapid succession and never hit a bad note. Brian, Roger, and the rest of the band kept up with him, playing everything perfectly. It was great to see them enjoying it so much. Brian in particular was blown away by the reception they received. As he stepped up to sing and play "'39" and "Love of my Life", he explained how he never expected such a welcome - and the surprise on his face made it obvious he was being sincere.

The high-point for me was seeing Roger Taylor performing his songs because he has always been my favorite member of Queen. He is such an interesting songwriter with a great rock voice (the same is true of Freddie who I love too!) I have all four of Roger's solo albums and the three albums he put out as the lead singer of the band The Cross, and I was always disappointed that I wouldn't be able to see him perform live. Well, last night, I saw him sing "Radio Ga Ga", "These are the Days of Our Lives", a new song called "Say It's Not True", and the classic "I'm In Love with my Car" - and each song was fantastic! He sounded great and came off as a legitimately personable guy. My eyes swelled with tears during "Days of Our Lives" because his performance was accompanied by a video of Queen as they arrived in Japan for the first time back in '74. It was great footage which I had seen before, but seeing them so young (and with Freddie) as Roger sang the words to an already-touching song made for such a nice experience.

I know I was, but I can't really remember how excited I was the first time I saw Depeche Mode in 1986, Styx in 1990, and Bowie in 1997. Those were major events for me and I still love all three acts. However, I know that this occasion with Queen is, and always will be, one of the major highlights of my life. How much do I love these guys?? My honeymoon trip to London was basically an excuse to see Kensington Market, their fan club HQ, and to go scribble my own message on the door to Freddie Mercury's house. I've flown out to Vegas twice this year to see the "We Will Rock You" musical at the Paris.

And now this! It can't be topped really! I'm hoping that they come back in the Spring to play more dates - and I'll do and spend whatever to get tickets to see them again - but this first time won't be topped. It was so fantastic! Thanks for Paul Rodgers for being there to make this possible - I know it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for him. But mostly, thanks to Brian and Roger for flying over the ocean to do this when they could just sit around and talking about the "good ol' days." Because of them, now I have another unforgettable memory for when I'm one of those old guys droning on about those "good ol' days!!"

Meadowlands, NJ – 16/10/05

REACHING OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN
FAT BOTTOM GIRLS
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
BAD COMPANY
SAY ITS NOT TRUE
'39
LOVE OF MY LIFE
HAMMER TO FALL
FEEL LIKE MAKING LOVE
DRUM SOLO
I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
GTR SOLO
LAST HORIZON
DAYS OF OUR LIVES
RADIO GA GA
CAN’T GET ENOUGH
ROCK AND ROLL FANTASY
I WANT IT ALL
BO RAP

-----

SHOW MUST GO ON
ALL RIGHT NOW
WE WILL ROCK YOU
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

October is here!

2005-10-03T17:58:00.000-04:00

Firstly, Happy Birthday (yesterday) to my Dad! I had a great time with my parents last night to celebrate the occasion. After mowing my lawn all summer, he deserves all the B-day accolades he can get!!

Well, tomorrow sees the release of the first single from the upcoming INXS CD - the first one featuring new lead singer JD Fortune. The song "Pretty Vegas", which received considerable airplay on "Rockstar: INXS" last month, will be sent to radio and available from iTunes. It's a very catchy song and with the promotion they received from the TV show, it has the chance to be the biggest INXS single in a long, long time. Will they pull it off? Who knows - the music industry is very different than it was when INXS released their last CD. Should be interesting to see what happens and I wish them the best of luck.

A sure sign that I'm getting old:

Picked up the 3-disc Genesis greatest hits collection last week and I have been enjoying it (except for some of the really hokey 90s ballads.) Pre-"Invisible Touch", these guys were a pretty interesting band. "Abacab", "Home By The Sea", "Counting Out Time" - all cool tunes.

New TV season has started. I had lost a lot of interest in "Lost" - mainly because I had been away from it so long. The first two episodes this season have pulled me right back in. Great stuff - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. "Desperate Housewives" has been fun, especially last night's episode where Susan backed her car into Edie. I couldn't stop laughing! But there is currently a great injustice at NBC and that is the fact that Scrubs still doesn't have a premiere date for its new season. C'mon guys - this is the best of your few remaining worthwhile comedies. Give it the respect it deserves!!

16 Days Later...

2005-09-26T20:24:00.000-04:00

Wow! I have been away from the blog for quite some time! Did you miss me? Of course you did....

Where have I been? Well, I spent a week at the beach on our annual family getaway to the Delaware shore. As always, it was a blast! Here are the highlights:

1. Waves - rough but fun! Got four days of quality boarding in. Saw a good number of dolphins as well.

2. Read 2 1/2 books - including the latest by Jasper Fforde, he of "Thursday Next" fame. I was afraid I wouldn't like this new series simply because it didn't have Thursday Next or her Literary Crime branch in it, but in truth it was a delightful read. I laughed out loud about 100 times - seriously! Great stuff.

3. Spent some quality time with my niece, sister, and brother-in-law which is always fun! Who would have thought my sister would eventually be kewl?? She used to seem like such a pain!! Here she is now....oh so pretty!! She has always looked up to me....

4. Ate at my second favorite restaurant, the Hobbit. Received the bad news that they are closing down for a year and half to put up a new building though....No me gusta!! Oh, hit Grotto's pizza two or three times too! Super-tasty!!!

5. You know what wasn't super-tasty? Some of the new flavors available at our favorite ice cream shoppe....

Way too disturbing! Well, stand by - I have to take a break, but there is definitely more to come. I, of course, have to comment on life after the conclusion of "Rockstar: INXS" and a few other things. Hang tight, True-Believers!!!

I'm so depressed...

2005-09-10T00:24:00.000-04:00

You know what - I'm going to re-write this entry. I posted it as an immediate reaction to seeing "Fashion Rocks" on CBS tonight, and I kind of feel like I'm not giving it ... I don't even know....the "seriousness" that it deserves. I can't even figure out how to say what I want to say here.

Just got in and watched the tape of "Fashion Rocks" that I recorded tonight so I could see my man David Bowie.

I had forgotten that he suffered a heart attack last year. The minute he walked on stage, however, I remembered.

I guess (hope) that he has stopped smoking because I have never seen him so chubby. His face looked so old...I have never seen him like this. It makes me so sad.

A sentiment echoed by many reviewers on the "Reality" tour last summer was that he seemed to be eternally youthful. It's so easy to buy into this because, except for a brief period in the 1980s, he has always been so musically vibrant, so relevant, and so energetic. I have NEVER seen him look anything less than fantastic. One of the best moments of my life was the first time I saw him and Gail Ann Dorsey sing "Under Pressure" live on the "Earthling" tour.

Ziggy Stardust. The Thin White Duke. The Berlin Visionary. The Heathen. This man has ALWAYS mattered to rock music!

I hope I am just over-reacting to this. I have just never seen him like he was tonight and it never entered my mind that I ever would. It seemed like his body or some sort of medication or something is conspiring against him to make him look his age. So unkind; so unkind.

I am so depressed right now.

PS. And what's the deal with CBS?? You have one of the legends of rock music perform three songs for you - "Life on Mars", "Five Years", and whatever that Arcadia Fire song was - and they show the one that no one has ever heard??? I know DB would defend that group that played with him, but I had never heard that song before and I would guess most people hadn't either. Show his classic hits if you ask him to sing them! D'uh!!

The Golden Age

2005-09-09T17:33:00.000-04:00

Bought a book today to read whilst at the beach next week, not that I needed to having a stack of tomes about 15 tall on my nightstand right now, but I always like to take some sort of comic book trade collection with me as well as novels. By this I mean, a book that collects one comic storyline from multiple issues into one book. They are very popular right now; in fact, one of the current problems with the comic industry is folks waiting for the trades and not buying the "real" issues of the story.

Anyway, this year I didn't go with a comic collection exactly. Instead I picked up a book that takes a look at All-Star Comics, a title which ran from 1938 to 1951, basically throughout what is considered the "Golden Age" of comics. All-Star Comics featured the Justice Society of America, comicdom's first superhero team, and the obvious forefather to the Justice League of America.

The JSA featured the original Flash, the original Green Lantern, the original Hawkman, the Original Atom, and many more characters (including Wonder Woman, who as a girl, served only as the JSA's official secretary. Different times.... Eventually they let her join full-time.)

The reason I put "original" before all the heroes names above is because during the Silver Age of comics, an editor named Julius Swartz led DC Comics as they recreated these heroes with new secret identities, new costumes, and new backgrounds. This period began in the mid-1950s. You can probably picture the Flash in your head, and when you do, it is the Silver Age version you are most likely thinking of.

For whatever reason, I have always enjoyed these Golden Age versions more than their Silver Age counterparts, and I have been able to read many of the old All-Star Comics courtesy of DC Comic's wonderful Archives line. Many readers of today's comics would be bored by the simplistic storylines, but these adventure tales of an era I will never really know, hold tremendous appeal for me. This is the same reason I enjoy listening to old radio shows featuring the likes of the Shadow and the Lone Ranger or watching old Flash Gordon movie serials.

Also, many comic fans of today criticize the artwork in these old books, but there were many true geniuses working during that time. Seriously. For almost every bad artist a critic can point out to me, I can point out someone producing honest to goodness ARTwork.

Jack Kirby
Sheldon Moldoff
Alex Toth
Mart Nodell
Joe Kubert
Joe Simon

And there are more - these are just names that I could list off the top of my head. I'd rather look at a page drawn by any of these guys than a page drawn by many of today's "hot artists".

There is something about these guys that just seems so fantastic to me. They were creating the entire industry as they went along. Today, creators have 70 years of history to look back at and draw from, but these guys only had each other. I read accounts of groups of creators working non-stop over a weekend in a cramped studio to get books done in time, and to me, it's such an inspiring, romantic image.

I was fortunate to have dinner with Mart Nodell a few years ago at the Harvey Awards, and I heard some of his stories about working on Green Lantern in the late 1930's . I don't think that he looks back on these times as fondly or as idealistically as I'm apt to think of them, but I just can't help it. For whatever reason, I won't let reality intrude upon my vision of the Golden Age - probably because of how much the characters mean to me. I think of their creators as giants and can't compute the idea that they were doing it for the paycheck. I guess I'm being foolish, but I can't help it. Anyway, I know that looking back, they are proud of their work. I saw that talking with Mr. Nodell, and I saw it when I had the chance to talk to Mr. Moldoff and his wife. I could see how happy Mrs. Moldoff was for her husband, and how proud, as we gathered around him looking at original artwork and hearing him talk about the old days. The same was true of Mrs. Nodell, as well.

OK - I'm not going to bore you anymore. Just wanted to write a few lines about this book I got, and I went a little overboard. Can't help it, and who does it hurt? I'm really looking forward to reading the book. Enjoy the weekend, friends - I know I will.

Life is what happens to you....

2005-09-07T22:05:00.000-04:00

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and no blogging was done. Yet the outcry from the public was decidely...subdued. Could it be that the demand for my rambling thoughts, once thunderous and mighty, has peaked and dwindled???

That doesn't sound right, does it???

This is Linnen here folks! There are so many trivial topics on which I can ramble endlessly that it would make your head spin. True, my holiday weekend wasn't really all that exciting, except for some sort of exotic heat rash which played havoc with my mighty forearms, but that doesn't mean I can't explore other avenues of expression.

Just finished reading A History of Violence which I mentioned somewhere else on this blog. What a fantastic graphic novel! I was really impressed with it. Then tonight I saw the preview on CBS as I watched the latest installment of my personal addiction, Rockstar:INXS. The feeling in my chest was not unlike when I saw the early previews for Batman Begins and Spiderman. I was surprised at how excited I was! With Viggo ("Aragorn") Mortenson playing the lead, I think this movie is going to receive acclaim similiar to the last DC/Paradox press movie, The Road to Perdition.

Why is it that DC can't hype these books when they are released, yet half a decade later, they are being made into these incredible films?? I guess it's just a case of American readers not taking comics seriously, and at times I can't say I blame them. Can we have a few more books released this month with an "X" in the title?? 10 X-men books a month isn't enough.

My delightful sister-in-law Laurie sent me this link to an album cover online game - it's pretty neat. Type in the name of a group/singer and it gives you a ten-question quiz based around their album (CD) covers. Check it out!!

Linnen says "Click Here to Try the Game."

Well, I didn't do it in writing here, but once again I have second-guessed INXS and predicted who would get the boot this week. So long, Jordis! I'm sorry she was so sad when they gave her a well-deserved boot, but she was lame - almost as lame as JD claiming the melody that he wrote a few weeks ago to an INXS backing track as an "original song." My boy MiG came out smelling like a rose.

Oh, another reason I haven't been on here the past few days is because of the cool software I got ahold of. Along with the latest erasure single, you get software to make your own remix of the track! It's really cool! And as fate would have it, the song, Here I Go Impossible Again, is (in my opinion) the best song they have written since 1989. I have been busy creating my very own Mix-Master Linnen version of the song. More about that as we get closer to its completion.

Well, I'm going to wrap this up, do a quick spell/grammar check, and post it. If you find typos or any mangling of our language, don't consider it a coup - I'm very sleepy. Just wanted everyone to know that the blog wasn't dead.

Good night to all!!

First Post of September!

2005-09-01T10:00:00.000-04:00

Attended a Harrisburg Senators home game last night, ignoring a severely overcast sky and the fact that the team was in last place. A great time was had by all as the hot dawgs were tasty and the home team won! We also were treated to a triple-play, which aren't too common, and the final game played in Harrisburg by Ryan Zimmerman. Turns out that he was just called up to play with the Washington Nationals this morning! Good luck in the big leagues to this talented young man!

I know those well-wishes will eventually make it back to Mr. Zimmerman because this blog is one of the major sports blogs on the web! : )

Speaking of talent, I was almost dead-on with my Rockstar:INXS prediction. I listed both who would be in the bottom three and who should be in the bottom three. Seems like I should have had more faith in the general public as the three I labeled as "should" were indeed in the bottom three. And I also said that Ty would get the boot, which unfortunately was the case.

As I previously mentioned, I was lucky enough to see Ty perform in We Will Rock You twice and he is just a tremendous talent! He is going to succeed in whatever he sets his mind to, so I know that this is not the last we will hear of him. Having said that, I was still sorry to see him go before some other contestants who I think he could blow out of the water.

As he departed, he alluded to the fact that there was some ill-will towards him by the voters due to the color of his skin - and he supported this claim with the statement that the public has never really embraced a rocker of color. I guess ignoring Hendrix this is true. Critics sang the praises of both Living Colour and King's X; however, the lauding never translated into sales. Right now, I can't really even think of any other applicable singers/bands, which is sad.

The thing is - I think Ty was wrong. People weren't reacting to his skin - they were reacting to his insistence that INXS was a soul band. He mentioned this many times, and the unfortunate thing is that I just don't hear this in their music. I hear Pop. I hear Rock. I hear Funk. I don't hear Soul. A few weeks ago, Ty mentioned that showing the group his skill at singing Soul was going to be his new strategy, and I knew then that his days were numbered. I think he blinded himself (deafened himself??) a bit so he could hear what he wanted to hear in their music.

He is an incredible singer (and a good songwriter it seems too), but in all truth, he really isn't right for their group. I will miss seeing him on TV though.

Tonight's Rockstar:INXS (Week 8)

2005-08-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

Oh, you want my reaction to tonight's great episode of Rockstar:INXS - well, okay...

The bottom three tomorrow will be:

The bottom three tomorrow should be:

JD
Jordis
Ty

HOWEVER - I do have to admit that this wasn't my man MiG's best performance. He still provided an extremely solid rock show, but while it's definitely a classic tune, Live and Let Die isn't really a vocalist's song.

I still think that Jordis should be in the bottom three because quite simply - her smiling her way through the most light-weight version of Imagine I have ever heard doesn't make for good television. However, it's apparent that even when she does a terrible job (like last week) she is still going to get the votes, so there's no way she'll sink this week.

Marty really impressed me this week, and to this point, I have disliked almost every performance he has given. Last week, I seriously had to fight the urge to get up and walk away when it came his time to sing. This week, he blew me away - and I'm not even a fan of Pink Floyd. Great job though - quite tasty! I wish he always put that much care into melodies and pitch.

I stand by my earlier statement that Ty gets voted off this week. He doesn't really deserve to, but I think it'll happen.

And as central PA's biggest Queen fan, I have to say that "Sweet Suzie McNeil" did a spectacular job with "Bohemian Rhapsody." I really enjoyed her performance of what may be the greatest rock tune ever written.

Linnen out!

What a mess this is!!

2005-08-30T15:03:00.000-04:00

First things first - my buddy Doug, who incidentally sent me that link I used below with the woman falling down through the bubbles, sent me this picture yesterday. Seems that he and some other folks feel that the dude over on the left looks just like me, only with longer hair. You know what? I tend to agree! I would never be reaching for my own butt like that in public though!

Finished the first stage of my landscaping project for my yard. You don't want to read about it here though because it's pretty boring. Looks pretty though.

Read the first chapter of the book A History of Violence which is soon to be released as a major motion picture starring Viggo Mortenson from LOTR. AHOV is actually a graphic novel released by the same imprint of DC Comics that released The Road to Perdition. I'm very impressed with it so far and I'm anxious to see how it plays out. The film will definitely be on my "must see" list.

Tonight's Rockstar: INXS is the weekly concert show. This week, Bohemian Rhapsody will feature prominently so I'm even more excited than usual about the show. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this week Ty will be told that he is just not right for INXS. I originally thought it would be "Sweet Suzie McNeil" but after the great swell in popularity she gained last time, I think that she is good for another week.

Desert Island Discs

2005-08-27T19:15:00.000-04:00

My friend Julie and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago, and here's the list I ultimately came up with, and my favorite track on each CD. I know you were wondering....
: )

Queen - Innuendo ("The Show Must Go On")
Depeche Mode - Black Celebration ("Stripped")
The Mission - AurA ("Mesmerised")
Roger Taylor - Electric Fire ("Pressure On")
Styx - Greatest Hits I ("Suite Madam Blue")
The Cure - Disintegration ("The Same Deep Water As You")
Queen - A Day At The Races ("Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together")
Depeche Mode - Greatest Hits 86-98 ("Never Let Me Down Again")
David Bowie - Station To Station ("Station to Station")
The Beatles - #1 ("We Can Work It Out")

Post your top ten if you get a chance. If not, have a good weekend! Linnen out!!

New Batman comic makes my stomach sick!

2005-08-25T21:04:00.000-04:00

Ugh. The latest issue of Batman is beyond horrible!

In an attempt to clean up the wreckage of the horribleness that was the "War Games" crossover, the creative team has written one of Batman's oldest and most loyal allies completely out of character. And when I say "completely" I mean "COMPLETELY!"

I tolerate an awful lot of crap due to my love of all things Batman, but this is just terrible. I can't believe both the writer and the editor got together and thought this was appropriate. The conclusion of this issue seriously made me sick to my stomach.

Disgusting.

Already missed a day....weak!

2005-08-25T20:30:00.000-04:00

Hey folks! I missed posting yesterday, which I'm sure upset me more than it did you. You see, I didn't start this blog just to annoy my friends with my insipid thoughts (hard to believe, I know!) I actually started it because I read something that I wrote recently and it was TERRIBLE!! I changed verb tense halfway through a paragraph; I had some unclear pronoun references; It was pretty pathetic. And the thing is that I used to be a pretty good writer - not very ambitious, but good. I even taught writing in high school for a couple years before moving to my current job.

I figured the best way to improve would be to start writing again on a regular basis - hence the blog. As a little bonus, I hope that if you occasionally visit the site, there will be something that interests you. Through it all, I always have YOUR best interests at heart.

For instance, check out this young lady. Pretty crazy! Just click and hold your mouse over her and you can kinda control how she falls. It's probably sexist, but I thought it was neat.

Also, I can't recommend this highly enough. Drink up!!

Just because I like you all so much...

2005-08-24T01:55:00.000-04:00

...here's a link to hear some of the first single from Andy Bell's (erasure) debut solo CD. It sounds really good to me - I'd probably be acting like a dancing fool if I wasn't so tired. See what you think....

http://193.128.49.29/andybell.com/news_04.html

Got home late...45 minutes to Rockstar: INXS

2005-08-23T21:14:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been a long day as I'm just getting in. My brain is wiped from learning SQL for 8 hours and we are on downtime for "Rockstar: INXS" which is like crack to me.

Regardless, I had to log on to share something with you, my dear friends (who have yet to post a comment here to let me know that they have stopped by! C'mon chums, don't you know this blog is now the main internet site for all things Linnen???)

When the hell did THIS happen to CarrotTop??? He could kick my ass!!

I Don't Want To Go On The Cart!!

2005-08-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

Ventured forth on very little sleep this weekend to NYC to see the hilarously wonderful "Monty Python's Spamalot." Currently starring David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry, the show features delightful songs, an insanely talented cast, and just as many laughs as the movie it was based upon.

How exciting it was to see many of the skits I have been quoting since college acted out before my eyes! Unless you are a fan of Monty Python, you can't imagine the excitement that comes with hearing sentences like:

I don't want to go on the cart!
I feel...happy!
I told them we've already got one!
Old Woman!
There are some who call me...Tim?
We want...a shrubbery!

There are dozens more I could list, but I guess that's enough.

One of the best things about the show is that they take most of the highlights from the film, and a few other classic M.P. songs, and they tie everything together with genuinely funny new material.

If you recall, in the film, the Grail is never found as the police show up and arrest everyone. In the play, there is a "proper" ending, and it is both fitting and hysterical. Eric Idle really did a wonderful and respectful job with his "adaptation." Kudos to him!!

I also enjoyed hanging out after the show and seeing David Hyde Pierce and Sara Ramirez come out to sign autographs. While I didn't get lucky enough to have anything signed, it was still exciting to be so close to both a Tony Award Winner and Dr. Niles Crane. : )

What a great way to spend a weekend! I'd love to do it again!

"I feel happy... I feel happy. (WHOP!)"

Me and Reality TV - Never Tear Us Apart!

2005-08-18T21:00:00.000-04:00

You know, I used to pride myself on the fact that I had never watched a "reality" show on TV. Survivor - nope, never seen it. American Idol - pass! Anna Nicole Smith - somehow missed it. However, over the past six weeks, I have become completely and wholeheartedly addicted to "Rockstar: INXS." I mean SERIOUSLY addicted!

I originally taped the first episode so I could scan through it to see Ty Taylor sing. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in the Las Vegas "We Will Rock You" show twice last January, and he was fantastic! So anyway, I was going to watch the first so, but I deemed it "quite insipid" and threw in a tape. I said "I'll scan through it later and just watch Ty."

In the meantime, I discovered that MiG Ayesa, another contestant, was the lead in the London version of "WWRY", so I figured that I would have to check him out too. Because of this, I sat down and watched an entire episode. Two nights later, I was hooked!
I have gone from rolling my eyes to people who talk about Survivor to actually penning emails with content like:

I agree with you about Ty. He is very talented, but his talent does not lend itself to fronting a rock band. He is GREAT in a live theatre role. When I saw him in WWRY, I left the theatre thinking he was the second best performer in the whole show. The more I see of him on TV though, the less I think he is appropriate for INXS. Last night, he sang well, but I hated what he did to the arrangement of "Maggie May."

JD deserves to be in the bottom 3 after his performance last night - I think that performance-wise he was the worst of the group. However, his fans will keep him out of the bottom 3. JD was the reverse of Ty - he didn't sing well, but his arrangement of the song was fine.

I actually thought Jessica did a pretty good job once she got going, but she is cursed with three things:

1. got off to a weak start (but recovered nicely.)
2. Kind of a light-weight song to begin with ("Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia)
3. People just don't seem to like her.

I wasn't too impressed with Marty - he just turned the song into the same style song that he always sings and he did what he always does (shifty-eyes, acts nervous, grops his own hair, etc...). I don't see the appeal. He seems so limited to me - but I seem to be in the minority. I think he could have done a terrible job singing it and still gotten by simply on the novelty of an angsty version of Britany Spears.

Anyway, I'm offering no excuses and I don't really regret getting into the show. I just think it is odd how for years I ignored this realty-trend, but then so fully embraced it. I have no intention to continue with the genre when this show ends - there are no other shows which have caught my interest. However, if Paul McCartney decides that reality TV might be a good way to reform the Beatles, I'll definitely check it out.

What's the story with Chicken Fries?

2005-08-17T12:44:00.000-04:00

Last night, I went to Burger King to try these new-fangled "chicken fries." Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in them. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting them to be some sort of revolutionary new treat. Thinking back, I am not sure why I was looking at Burger King of all places to revolutionize chicken. Seems dumb.

Flash to this morning: Imagine my surprise to read in today's local newspaper that the fast-food gourmet gave an incredibly enthusiastic "thumbs up" to these poultry products! Actually, it seemed that the critic was very impressed with the chicken fries packaging, which includes a lid which holds a cup of dipping sauce for you. I didn't utilize this miracle of modern science because I wasn't driving while I ate. I get a sense from reading the article that his love of the built-in cup holder is causing him to be overly complimentary to the chicken itself - more so than he intends or realizes. Of course, this may be me inferring something that I shouldn't.

I wanted to write something about the TV show I watched last night, but I ran out of time over lunch. I'll be sure to get to it this week though because this particular show has become my addiction over the past few weeks.

Hmm...let's see if I can do this.

2005-08-16T21:00:00.000-04:00

Blog. Sweet! Let's jump right into it!

Hey - the Adversary's identity is revealed in this month's issue of Fables! I have a feeling that there is going to be more to it than what we have been told so far - if there isn't, then my guess from the very beginning was correct (and that never happens!)

As always, this is a well-written beautifully illustrated piece of graphic storytelling! This book is consistently spectacular, and yet I'm never excited about it until I finish reading it. It constantly ends up tucked comfortably in the middle of my weekly stack while books must more poorly written but with flashier covers find their way to the top. Not sure why that happens. I guess I get mesmerized by the pretty colors.....

Also picked up Alan Moore's Top Ten: The Forty-Niners hardcover. Mr. Moore is one of the few writers who warrants the deluxe DC hardcover format, and without a doubt, the original Top Ten mini-series was one of the best stories published in the last decade. This book deals with both the origins of Neopolis and the Neopolis Police force. Most of the characters from the original series aren't around, but there are a few familiar faces (the Captain from the mini-series is a very young Jet Lad here for instance.) Due to the shorter length, there aren't as many storylines to be found this time around, but over the course of the 100 (or so pages), we encounter Vampires, Superheroes, a time machine, Nazis, and romance. Not too shabby!
Coupling the fantastic artwork with Mr. Moore's always-exceptional writing, I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

Ed Brubaker continues to make me interested in Captain America, a book I have never before given a second thought. He is weaving a tale that ties military adventure with super heroics, betrayal, intrigue, and murder. I think that over the course of my almost 25 years of reading comics, I may have purchased 6 issues of this book before this, now suddenly I can't stop wondering if Cap's old partner Bucky is in fact back from the dead and working for the enemy! It's incredible how good Brubaker is, but by now it's not surprising. I have followed him on Batman, Detective Comics, Authority, Sleeper, and DeadEnders (amongst others) and he has NEVER disappointed.

Batman is acting out of character in this new four issue crossover "War Crimes", but I guess it could be said that he has been acting out of character for many, many years now. It was never as blatant as him altering the scene of a crime like he did last week. I'm trying to think of the last time I really felt that Batman was acting like Batman and not some anti-social masochist, but I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it right now (I don't' have my books in front of me.) It can't be all way back to pre-Knightfall storylines, can it?

John Byrne's Doom Patrol is ending with issue 18, a fact that was brought to light this week with the new DC solicitations. Of course, all over the web, the Byrne-Bashers are celebrating and the Byrne-fans are blaming the current market for the book's failure. I don't know whose fault it is - maybe it's Byrne's - who knows? All I know is that I enjoyed the book and I will miss it. I hadn't followed John Byrne for many, many years - not since the end of his first year on Superman in the mid-1980s; however, I tried this out and enjoyed it. I think maybe I like him on team books because it put me in mind of his Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight work. It was different than most everything else in the market right now - had kind of a retro-feel to it - and it was an enjoyable change of pace from all the gloom that is creeping back into the industry. I'm sorry to see it go.

Wanted to get into the new Defenders book by the laugh-out-loud funny team who brought us Formerly Known as the Justice League, but my store sold out and I never got my hands on issue #1. I guess I'm waiting for the trade on this one.