Reading: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Music: Black Flag
TV/Movie: Repo Man
Link o' the Day: Slave Labor Graphics(SLG Publishing)

A man on fire.

Well, sparking, anyway. Maybe a little smoke. While the weekend wasn't one of my most productive--vegging out was the theme--I did get a few pieces of writing done. A few thousand words that'll see print in one form or another at some point in time or another. Nothing ground-breaking, but all of it fun. When I know the when & wheres, I'll pass it on. For now, though, assume that I was highly amusing and erudite. Yeah. Erudite.

Lately I've been reading, bathroom-reading actually, the Watchmen graphic novel by Alan Moore and Davie Gibbons in preparation for a pre-movie review of the book for the upcoming Forces of Geekdom webpage. Bookstore shelves are groaning with copies of the graphic novel, but rather than contaminate myself with any possible current commentary that the publishers may have slipped in, I'm reading my original 1987 edition which, surprisingly, still stands. The covers are long gone, and it sure has seen better days, but it's all there, in all its dark, gritty glory.


I have great worries about the movie version coming out. Sure, the director seems solid--the guy who adapated 300 to screen so well, but this Watchmen is a hugely complex story. And it's full of characters who fall well short of the Hollywood ideal. That was sort of the point. Will Hollywood let something like Moore and Gibbon's tone stand? V for Vendetta worked out pretty well. Will this?

We shall see. I have to take some time later to find the trailer.

And I admit here and now that I will succumb to at least one aspect of commercialism that may surround the movie. The Rorschach action figure is on my Christmas wish list.

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Rhode Island now has a Trader Joe's. If you've not heard of it, it's a self-described "unique grocery store" that leans heavily into the arena of gourmet and organic foods. Think of it as a meeting between say Stop & Shop and Whole Foods with a dash of your local neighborhood gourmet foodery. The prices are a little higher on average than Stop & Shop, but a hell of a lot cheaper than Whole Foods. I fell in love with their Japanese rice crackers. The Thai snacks aren't bad either. We picked up a bunch of different odds and ends including this Thursday's turkey. And Saturday we enjoyed their rosemary chicken (with some egg noodles and whole wheat dinner rolls).


Good stuff. But dangerous. Tasty! But dangerous. I could spend too much money there. Fortunately they're in Warwick, not in Providence, so it's not too convenient. And it's in the middle of Christmas Shopping Ground Zero in Rhode Island, so if I want to spend money there, I have to work at it.

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Today's link goes to Slave Labor Graphics(SLG Publishing): Making Comics Fun Since 1986, Better Comics Through Superior Firepower, & Catholic Kids Gone Bad. In addition to some familiar titles like Disney's Haunted Mansion and Gargoyles, they also publish Gloomcookie, Milk & Cheese (dairy products gone bad), and Rex Libris. They also publish the works of Rhode Island-bound Chris Reilly: Strange Eggs, Punch and Judy and The Trouble With Igor.


Check 'em out. What could it hurt?

Let's not find out.

Cheers!