Hey, I’m back

I’ve been back for a week or so, but here’s my official “welcome back” post.

If you’ll remember, I had several things I wanted to get done while I was gone.

1. Get Married - done. It was great. The wedding was amazing, and the honeymoon (in Greece) was very relaxing.

2. Take lots of pictures of Greece - done.

3. Catch up on Powers - done.

Powers is a great series. It starts off basically as a police procedural set in a world where some people have superpowers, but then starts to explore larger and larger issues.

I disagree somewhat with LD and E, who told me beforehand that the series was slow from volumes 2-6. While they are right that the series jumps up a huge level in Vol. 7, I think that the series is great for Vol. 1, very good from Vol. 2-6, and then unbelievable in Vol. 7 on.

So I highly recommend Powers for comics fans. It’s a great new take on the superhero genre, and for fans of police dramas or investigative shows, it will be even more appreciated.

4. Catch up on the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - done.

The first book was recommended by N8 and Grimbil. I’ve now read the first four books (the fifth is slated to come out sometime next year).

I’ve read a lot of fantasy novels over the years, and this is one of the best. Comparatively, this series is more mature than a lot of the fantasy series that are good. Additionally, the series doesn’t suffer from the ‘Wheel of Time’ flaw. Even though there are a lot of characters, the action is propelled forward at a very good pace. Additionally, Martin has no problem killing off his characters. People die regularly, and it’s believable.

I know I’ll never convince E and LD to read these, because they hate fantasy. But if you don’t hate fantasy, then you should read this series.

5. Come up with a new moniker - not done. This change is on hold for now.

Other stuff -

I have a lot of random thoughts about things -

/filmcast - I know E’s friends are tired of him talking about the /filmcast, so I’ll go ahead and plug it as well. If you don’t know anything about it, /film.com is a good site for movie news, and the /filmcast is their podcast. They have 3 of the site’s writers and usually a guest, and they discuss recent movies they’ve seen, film news, and then review a movie. They cover a lot of topics, and it’s great to listen to on the commute.

The Totally Rad Show. Another podcast, this one video. Three guys review a movie, a video game, and sometimes a comic book or TV show. They are total geeks, and I can’t recommend this show enough. I never thought that watching three guys talking about movies and video games would be entertaining and hysterical, but it is.

I know no one but me and E will watch/listen to these, but I feel good recommending them. (And for the record, E found the /filmcast, I found the totally rad show).

Oh, and I started using twitter.

So that’s it. I’m off to the New Yorker Festival in a second, expect some reactions to those.

Good to be back.