Comics of the Week (7/23/08)

I interrupt my own travelogue to finish up something I didn't do last week.

Trinity #8 - the heroes continue to investigate the strange trinity/tarot themes while the trio of villains plot to take power. Still enjoying this weekly as it unfolds.

Justice League of America #23 - Vixen learns the truth about her recent power changes, and Amazo makes his move. It is all out battle in the JLA headquarters as their enemy with all their powers takes them out.

Ambush Bug: Year None #1 (of 6) - the quirky hero is back with his creators (Giffen and Fleming) guiding the tale. In their classic comedy style, they poke fun at the conventions of the medium as well as recent comic events, using Ambush Bug as their irreverent mouth-piece. Should be a fun mini series.


the Brave and the Bold #15 - with Nanda Parbat undersiege, Deadman recruits the team of Nightwing and Hawkman to help. I enjoyed this issue a lot because writer Mark Waid shows why Nightwing (Dick Grayson) has such a tactical mind. He learned from the best (Batman) and this issue shows that nicely. This two-part arc was a lot of fun, and it shows that this team-up title can do different mixes of tales nicely (multi-part epics, two-parters, single issue tales).

Dunkirk Travelogue 2008 - Part 2

A Family / A Fair

We had a wake up call set for 9:30am. Good thing I have a great internal clock when I sleep as the call did not come. Still, I was awake by 9:15am and excited for our day ahead of us. This trip was for my 25th high school reunion and there were events planned on both Friday and Saturday. Still, I had a few plans for things I wanted to do on Friday as well so I got the family up and ready to go by 10:30am.

First stop was to my aunt's house, and along the way I gave my wife and son a quick tour of stuff (pointed out my old middle school, the hospital where I was born, the house where the local country club's golf pro lived, the florist that sold great stick candy for pennies back in the day, etc.). My aunt actually lives in the house my grandparents lived in growing up (she lived next door, but now her youngest daughter lives there while she lives with her middle daughter in my grandparents' old house). Anyway, we dropped in for a quick visit and to pick up two things: directions to my middle cousin's cottage where we'd be having dinner that night and tickets to the county fair.

After getting some breakfast/lunch at the Bob Evans, we headed over to the Chatauqua County Fairgrounds. The reunion dates were picked, in part, to coincide with the Fair, giving folks who were coming back home another event to take part of. Growing up, the Fair was a huge thing every summer. I'd often go for a day with my youngest cousin, to ride the rides and play the games and eat the food. We'd also go with the whole family on Wednesday night every year; Wednesday was traditionally the night of the Joey Chitwood motor show. We always had a ball at the Fair.


Going back after 20+ years as a 43 year old adult, the Fair seemed a bit smaller. Sure, most of the same things were there: the exhibit hall for crafts, the livestock buildings, the I Got It game, certain concession stands still owned and run by the same families after all these years, the midway laid out in pretty much the same fashion with the carnival games down one aisle and the rides up the middle, etc. It just seemed smaller from a grown up perspective. It didn't take too long for us to check most of the things out. We did, however, ride a few rides including the Tilt-A-Whirl or, as I called it after one ride in my youth - the Tilt-A-Hurl (because I mistakenly drank a Pepsi after riding it then and did not make it to the nearest restroom in time - you want to make someone made at the Fair, go and barf in front of their booth.).

After a few hours, we went back to the van which we parked for free at the D-F Plaza lot, and headed back to the hotel. There we took a few minutes to take a walk around the water front of Lake Erie harbor. The weather was nice and cool, and the pathway along the breakwall that protects the harbor was nice place to just walk and talk. Again, I shared memories of growing up here, of swimming in the lake when it wasn't so polluted, of fishing on the dock with my father, etc.

After our walk, we drove out to my cousins' cottage for dinner. Now, that was an experience too. Turns out this community has a creek that runs through the center of it down to the lake. To get to my cousins' place, you have to drive through the creek. Yup, you read that right. Luckily the creek was low so it wasn't too challenging. There we visited with most of the family, had a dinner of hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob (locally grown, yum) and birthday cake. My three cousins all celebrate their birthdays in the July/August months, so for the first time in a long time we had a family birthday for them. It was just like when we were growing up. We had a lot of fun.

At 9pm, it was time to say goodbye to the family and head back to the hotel to get cleaned up. It was time for the Friday evening portion of the reunion festivities!


(to be continued...)

Dunkirk Travelogue 2008 - Part 1

Take The Long Way Home

On Thursday July 24th, my family loaded up the new van and began the 600 mile trek from Hickory, NC, to the town I grew up in - Dunkirk, NY. Of course, before we could even start out, I had to first drive an hour to the Boy Scout camp outside of Rutherfordton, NC, pick up my son who had been at camp since Sunday the 27th, drive the hour back to the house, unload his camp gear and load up our trip stuff. Good thing my wife was willing to drive the first leg when we left our house at 4pm.

Everything was going great until the tunnels of Virginia. First encountered on I-77 was the Big Walker tunnel. Now, my wife doesn't like going through them to begin with (she's a bit claustrophobic) but she was driving so she just dealt with it. After the first tunnel is about 10 miles of road before the second one. That ten miles took nearly an hour and 45 minutes to traverse, in part due to maintenance going on at the East River Mountain tunnel. Traffic was stopped completely for most of that period while two lanes of traffic slowly became one. Ugh. So, the first four hours of the trip we barely clocked in 160 miles total. Not good.

We ate a very late dinner and then I took over. The van GPS which, by the way, is a godsend, was pretty good about keeping us fully on track. However, it had clocked the trip for 9 hours, assuming a speed of 67 mph. Well, we still had another six and half hours to go, according to her, so I had to make up some time. The best laid plans of mice and men...

If you've never driven the Pennsylvania highways, I need to point out that they are always under construction. Every time I have made a trip back to New York since moving south 20 years ago, we always encounter construction in the Keystone State. This trip was no different. Lots of slowing down, narrowing of lanes with cement barriers, orange barrels, single lanes, etc. By midnight, we still had quite a good distance to go.

It was time to make a decision. Did we find a hotel, stop and get about five hours sleep and then do the final three hours in the morning, or did we just push on and drive the rest of the way? Either way we would only get five hours sleep at best. We had plans for Friday which didn't allow for much buffer. Also, at midnight the traffic was pretty much non-existent. Come morning, who knew what delays we'd hit? My wife called the hotel in Dunkirk, explained that we had a reservation beginning Friday night and asked if they had a room open should we arrive at 3am. They said they would have our room for us. We decided to press on!

Besides the GPS, the other blessing of the van is the XM radio system. Except in the mountain tunnels, we had clear single all the way. I love that! No fishing for stations, no settling for genres you don't want. At 11pm, XM 8 the 80's started an American Top 40 countdown with Casey Kasem from 1980, so I had a soundtrack to drive to.

Even still, by 2am, my eyes were starting to get droopy. We pulled into a Sheetz gas station to top off the tank, use the bathroom, and refill on caffenated beverages. My wife took over to drive an hour while I allowed by eyes to relax a bit. Towards the end of her hour, the New York state border was just ahead. We pulled over just before getting on to the New York State Thruway, and I drove the final little bit. As we hit the Dunkirk exit, I had her turn off the GPS. I was back in the town I grew up in and knew my way around even after all this time.

We pulled up to the Clarion hotel on Lake Erie at 4am, did a quick check-in, hauled our stuff to the room and crashed. Okay, technically my son crashed again as he had slept nearly the whole trip in the car up (scout camp tends to wear him out). Still, it was great to be finally getting some sleep, as little as it would be. In a few hours, we'd have things to do for our 72 hours in Dunkirk.

(to be continued...)

School Days

School Days, published in 2005, is Robert B. Parker's 33rd Spenser novel. The Boston investigator is hired by a grandmother of a young man involved in a school shooting. She wants Spenser to prove his innocence, even though the child confessed to being a part of the killing with another young man. In typical fashion of these novels by Parker, Spenser learns there is more to the case than meets the eye.

The book is pure Spenser. The typical supporting cast of Susan and Hawk are not present. Only minor contacts of Spenser's from past books appear. This, in a lot of ways, is sort of a throwback to the earlier novels. In that, it makes it a nice break from the last few books.

In a number of ways, this one seemed to be ripped from the headlines. He had a very Columbine feel to it, as the infamous school shooting had happened around the time this book was written.

Cold Service

I just finished reading Cold Service, the 32nd book by Robert B. Parker in the Spenser series. In this 2005 novel, we open with Spenser at Hawk's bedside in a hospital. Hawk and a family he knew were gunned down by five Ukranian thugs. Only Hawk survived the shooting which left one little boy orphaned. Even beat down pretty bad, Spenser's good friend wants revenge for the family and for himself. It takes awhile to recover, but eventually he is ready to do just that. But what it ends up costing Hawk is something else.

I really felt Parker missed an opportunity here. The book focuses on Hawk mostly and, I have to say, it was about time. However, this was a chance to really let readers know more details about who Hawk is, how he came to be, etc. We don't get that. Parker keeps him this man of mystery and secrets. I felt he could have given the readers more without compromising the character. Ah well.

What was #1 the Day You were Born?

Billboard Music - Billboard #1 Hits

What was the #1 song on the day you were born? Do you know? Do you care? Will it haunt you at night now that I mentioned it until you check? Good.

Click on the link above then click the Billboard #1 Hits on the toolbar in blue to find the decade you were born. Click that to bring up the lists for that decade, find your year and then within that the week you were born. Viola. Your #1 song on the day you were born.

Mine is Gary Lewis and the Playboys - "This Diamond Ring".

My wife's is the Association - "Cherish".

My son's is Mariah Carey - "Fantasy".

What's yours?

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog

Trust me, you gotta check this link out: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. If you're a fan of super-heroes, musicals, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Joss Whedon's awesome genius - you need to check this out. It is a three-act melodrama about Dr. Horrible (Harris) and how he is torn between love and getting into the Evil League of Evil. And his heroic rival - none other than Captain Hammer (Fillion).

I laughed so hard I cried. And who knew these guys could sing? Just go watch it. You'll thank me.