News for the Week of April 2, 2008
Rick’s Writin’s
I visited my mom down in Portland on Friday past and out of the hundreds
of times I've made the I-5 Seattle to Portland run, I don't think I've
had a more white-knuckled one than I had this time. With the crazy rain,
snow, sun, snow, rain, hail, sun, rain weather we've had, the fact that
I went on a Friday morning and every other vehicle was a big nasty truck
spraying from the wheels, it just made that drive a terrible one. There
was construction through Centralia/Chehalis where it looks like they're
finally widening to three lanes each way, and they had those shoulder
walls that seem to be 3 inches from the lane edge on each side. It's no
fun driving that gauntlet when you're boxed in next to a big lane wobbling
truck spraying your windshield so you can barely see. I'm a left lane
driver. I know the signs say only drive in the left lane to pass. And
I do. That's the job of the left lane driver, pass everybody you can and
keep the traffic flowing. You are not to be speed limit or less driving
pace car driving in tandem with the car next to you so nobody can get
past thus stopping up traffic like a cork. And since we're talking about
driving, my latest peeve is plodding drivers that slow down to a crawl
10 mph under the limit for a mile or more before they have to turn or
leave the freeway. Where's that rule written? I hope it doesn't sound
like I'm a lead foot driver, because I'm not. Like most of us, I just
have places to go and people to see. So, if you don't and are on the road
anyway, get the hell out of the way.
Lots of big titles this week, headed up by the big Marvel summer event
Secret Invasion (#1 of 8). They're here!!! Oh, it's a secret, remember.
We've got the checklist postcards for those of you that want to follow
this story. It seems to be concentrated mostly in the Avenger type books
and Ms and Mr. Marvel, but I'm sure it'll have impact on other titles
too. The Secret Invasion book is also shipping with a blank convention
cover, ready for you to take to the Comic-Cons and have your artist fave
do you a doodle. But, we here at Spy like to use these covers to have
an art contest for our customers, like last years Death of Captain America
contest. This one will of course be Secret Invasion, and we'll have details
starting Wednesday, but the idea is you buy a blank, draw on it and we'll
post them on the wall for all to see and then everybody votes. Winners
get prizes and gift certificates. It was fun last time, so I hope you
aspiring pen and pencil wielders join in this time. It's also authors
week, as Stephen King's Dark Tower Long Road Home (#2 of 5) and Laurell
K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter (#10 of 12) arrive, as does Joss
Whedon's Buffy Vampire Slayer (#13) though this issue is written by "Cloverfield"
as well as Buffy, Lost and Alias writer Drew Goddard. Alex Ross' Project
Superpowers (#2 of 6) comes in and though this one is selling OK, I think
it would do better if the logo was the comic title, not just some fancy
"S". When you see the book on the shelf, you'd have no idea
what that book is if you didn't already know about it and have a hint
of what you're looking for. Pretty stupid if you're trying to get readers
on a new book. Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s Kick Ass (#2) shows and
this is the book I'm anticipating the most. I thought the first issue
set up a great premise and the letter to the readers that Millar wrote
at the back of it gushing with enthusiasm for his book, makes me believe
this is going to be a long term good one. If a writer like Millar is that
stoked, he's got something going.
I don't usually bring up Avatar books because in general I don't like
them, but this week Warren Ellis has a Sci-Fi spy book releasing called
Anna Mercury and though it'll have the usual Avatar one zillion covers,
I like Warren Ellis and Sci-Fi so I'm going to try it. Countdown is counting
down. We're at issue #4 and the Final Crisis is almost upon us. Don't
forgot, it's the FINAL crisis. Never again will there be a crisis as final
as this one. For all final crisis's, this is the finalist. If you had
to pick a more final crisis, you couldn't, because this is it. Remember....FINAL
and...CRISIS. Be there or be square, or a Marvel only reader.
Baseball season starts today, and I was going to make predictions for
the M's season, but I don't want to start out right off as a naysayer.
I will say that I think our hitting is suspect and all the good pitching
in the world isn't going to win games if the offense doesn't score. The
plan is to run more, which I like, but they've got to get on base first
and then there has to be some clutch hitting by the guys that are supposed
to hit. I just don't see our middle line-up inducing much fear in pitchers.
I don't think Richie Sexson will hit his weight, Raul is slowing down,
Wilkerson strikes out almost as much as Sexson, and Beltre usually starts
out cold. Who knows what Jose Lopez will do, and it's obvious by the Mariner
moves they don't either, and Vidro is another year older and has no power.
So that leaves Ichiro, Jojima, and Yuniesky and that's not enough. The
starting pitching overall should be better than before, but Felix needs
to show why he's nicknamed "King". I'm not sure about Bedard.
Lot's of pitchers that move or are traded aren't the same as before on
their new club. It seems to take time for them to adjust, for what ever
reason. I didn't like the trade much either, so there's a bit of negativity
in there too. We need him to be what we traded for. The coaching staff
definitely is better, and I think they know they burned out the bullpen
last year so they've made moves to deal with that and won't let it happen
again. My guess is that unless somehow the Angels tank, we're playing
for the wildcard and we'll need at least 90-92 wins to get it. With the
offense we've got, that seems tough. Maybe Morse will break through or
something else great will happen. It's a long season. That's baseball
and that's why I love it.
Paula’s Picks
Once again, I’m still not caught up on my books. I spent a good
part of my days off organizing and trying to find a dress to wear to a
wedding next week (Congrats Rob & Susan!). So, I think I’ll
tell you all what I did one year for an April Fool’s Day prank.
I was a senior in high school and piercings were becoming a bit more common.
I got a plain silver hoop clip on earring and put it in my nose so it
looked like I had gotten my nose pierced. I also put some red make-up
around the area to make it look sore. My story was that I had gotten it
done the night before. I had all of my friends going that it was real
for the whole day. My final class was Literature. Somehow, my new “piercing”
became the discussion of my class. My Lit teacher was getting mad and
started to go into a tirade about punching holes in your face for no good
reason. Then, one of my classmates asked if it hurt. I said, “Yeah,
especially when I do this.” I went to touch the piercing and pulled
it out of my nose really fast. The whole class was stunned silent and
my teachers jaw dropped. It was great! My best friend had the same teacher
the year before and told me that she had threatened the class with a hockey
stick if they didn’t do their homework. So, there was the danger
of hockey stick related injuries if it didn’t go well. Luckily,
she had a pretty good sense of humor and had a good laugh about it.