I got up late but not too late. No energy, even after a shower, tea, and cereal. Just no desire to do anything. For another blog I was writing about Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan (a large, beautiful, cycle of poems inspired by the Persian poet Hafiz) but I found it difficult to muster enthusiasm or words.
I was also listening to Bauhaus, which might help explain the mood (or lack thereof). I also finished listening to my collection of Barenaked Ladies … I had much more music there than I expected (about six albums?), and it took hours to get through it all. Unfortunately about 140 Beastie Boys tracks follow, so I won’t get to regular pop or rock for a while.
Andrew recommended Cat Power … perhaps something to check out.
Last night I got caught up on Marvel’s Civil War event, which has really been drawn out. It started back in the summer. There’s the Civil War mini-series itself (7 issues), Civil War – Frontline (a side project, 11 issues), a prequel (New Avengers: Illuminati) that spawned a mini-series, four-part mini-series each for the X-Men and the Runaways & Young Avengers (the latter was done as a team up of the two young groups). In addition there is the “Casualties of War” series of one-shots, as well as all the Civil War issues in New Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, the various Spider-Man comics, Cable & Deadpool, Iron Man, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Daredevil, She-Hulk, Wolverine, and X-Factor. Hell, I’ve probably missed some. In addition Marvel used the occasion to relaunch a number of titles/characters, including Heroes for Hire, Iron Fist, and Punisher War Journal, for example. The only major title/line not to get dragged into Civil War was The Incredible Hulk — instead, that character got shot into space and is now doing a long side narrative, “Planet Hulk.” And Marvel will surely come up with another BIG EVENT and cross-over for next summer … meaning less time for titles to pursue their own stories.
I have followed the main Civil War titles (Civil War, Civil War – Frontline, New Avengers, and the X-titles), but haven’t yet read most of the ones dedicated to individual characters (Iron Man, She-Hulk, etc.), except Wolverine.
A couple people I’ve talked to recently have recommended The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père … not just a sandwich anymore. I’m also a fan of The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I need to get back to reading House of Leaves (Danielewski) — I’ll provide more comments on it when I’m finished.
