Image from Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York by James and Karla Murray via howtobearetronaut.com
OK, so I am callin’ it. First day of sweatpants while working from home. Made it almost 5 months of getting up and getting dressed for work, even though I am working from home. Until I gave up, today, though just for one day. Feel kind of lazy and blah, so I might get dressed during lunch see if that helps me pump up the day, so to speak.
From the comic boxes, you need to read Scalped. As gritty a crime book as you could want. This is a Vertigo book (and for those non-comic people out there that means no guys in costumes, and not books for kids. Not for kids either because of content not the pictures, think Showtime or HBO series like the Sopranos, the Wire or Dexter. In fact I am still somewhat surprised that we have yet to see a Vertigo series made into a cable series, yet) and fills that hole left in your month (or year for those of you who do trades) that 100 Bullets used to fill. Dark, character driven, crime narrative set on a Indian reservation. Trust me go get it. This link is to a PDF of the first issue: Scalped.
I hate iTunes. If there was a way to backup and update without ever having to open that damned app I would do it. So, at the very least I have avoided using any thing else that requires it. So, for music I just use Pandora or NPR Music or something streaming. But, for podcasts this is a problem. I need to have my podcasts downloaded directly onto my phone, mainly because I need them for the plane or other times when streaming is not an option. So, for a long time I used Podcaster. I could deal with the questionable UI decisions (really need to hit edit to re-order the download cue? Can you make it bit uglier please?) and the random crashes. I could even deal with having to manually delete listened to podcasts. But, not it is randomly not downloading podcasts, this is the only functionality that I require. So, now I need a new podcast downloader for my iPhone. Sadly, they all cost money and looks like I am going to be testing one or more out. So, look for reviews of crappy iPhone podcast apps in the near future.
Some people subscribe to a cult like belief that a clean email inbox is somehow going to make them a better or less distracted or something person. Seems to just make people really excited to tell everyone about their empty inbox. Instead I completely thrilled to say that I am now completely caught up with my incoming comics. The back story here is that when I worked at Microsmurf I could only make it to the comic book store one a month or every two months and when Anna-Sophia was born that only got worse. At one point I had about 18 months of comics waiting for me to read. But, she is now almost 5 and I have made it through the back log, woot! Though sadly I don’t feel like a better person, just one who really needs some more comics.
Speaking of the little girl, her first ballet recital is coming up this weekend and I was giving my wife an idea of what songs they are going to do. I take Anna-Sophia to ballet most weeks, nice hour to sit and read or write while I wait for her. And get a preview of music that she is doing to dance to. From the last few weeks I think that a selection will be made from the movie/musical “Annie.” Anyway, I am telling my wife about this and I say:
They keep playing songs like “Hard Knock Life” and “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” and “Bet Your Bottom Daughter”
Oh, well.
Luke W. McCullough | lm3m @ msn.com | 05/17/2011 | the new House of Chaos, Arlington, MA