A Savage Place

In 1981, Robert B. Parker published A Savage Place, the eighth novel in his Spenser series. After the last one's slower pace, this one was much more action and drama - enough so that this was even adapted as a movie as part of the Spenser For Hire television series.

In this one, Spenser is called by Rachel Wallace to ask Spenser if he'll serve as a bodyguard again, this time for someone she knows. He agrees and soon he is on his way out to Los Angeles to help protect Candy Sloan, a news reporter trying to uncover corruption in the movie industry. Before it is over, many are dead and Spenser goes to an extreme to resove the case!

I liked the continuity connections to the sixth novel - this continues to show the interconnected aspects of the Spenser universe. I also found it interesting to see Spenser out of his usual stomping grounds of Boston and its neighboring communities.

Comics of the Week (3/26/08)

countdown to Adventure #8 - finally this mini series is over, and it goes out on a whimper and not a bang. The lead tale (with Adam Strange, Starfire and Animal Man) drug out waaaay to long and the backup feature (with Forerunner) seemed to go all over the place. I'm sorry I wasted the money all these months.

Countdown to Final Crisis #5 - the second week of narrative by Buddy Blank as we see the Great Disaster destroy his earth. In the end, we get what we expect - the world where Kamandi exists in tact. Kind of boring and predictable. Four issues left to try and pull this weekly series together. Let's see what they do.

Teen Titans Go! #53 - two more short stories this time out. The lead one is a Doom Patrol flashback where Beast Boy and Mento do the old brain-switch. Yawn. On the flip side, loved the Kid Flash and Jinx tale - where they meet some sibling villains who are a little familiar. Kind of fun. And Todd Nauck's artwork is always a joy.

Green Lantern #29 - the beginning of a "Secret Origin" arc. This is all about Hal prior to his becoming a GL, with vignettes from through out his early life. It builds upon the stuff Geoff Johns has been establishing in the series so far. I did not like that he met Carol Ferris as a kid, nor that he met John Stewart early on too. It makes all the rest of the history we know seem like...I don't know...just too convenient.


Book of the week - Teen Titans #57 - yes, this surprised me too. An issue with Ravager defending the Titans Tower, her way, actually was pretty cool. We got to see more of the villains involved, and they interested me. We got to see some more of Wendy and Marvin, who I love how they get used in this book. Tht title is actually picking up for me again and that's cool. More issues like this, please.

American Idol 2008 - Top 10 Results

Another wild and wooly results show, and a lot of filler too.

The good: seeing Kimberley Locke, season 2 third place finisher, back to perform a song from her second album. I always enjoyed her and bought both of her CDs to support her music. After her spin on Celebrity Fit Club season 6, she's looking pretty good.

The bad: I was totally off on my picks for the bottom three. America put Jason, Syesha and Chikezie in the bottom three, and they sent Chikezie home this week. Bummer. While he hadn't a chance to win this thing, I enjoyed his performances.

The weird: that group number where David Cook and Michael Johns did some chest bump thing in the middle of it. You know that wasn't choreographed! LOL.

Next week, guest mentor Dolly Parton gives the group some advice - I'm guessing a country theme. Should be interesting.

American Idol 2008 - Top 10 Performances

This week was "sing a song from your birth year" for the top 10 contestants. What it did was make me realize that I graduated from college before many of these contestants were even born! Yipes. As for the performances themselves, they weren't horrid and a few stood out as above the rest. The odd thing for me this season is folks are all over the map from one week to the next (for me). One week someone is in the top, next near the bottom. Crazy!

Two who remain consistent at the top for me: David Cook and Brooke White. Clearly my favorite two of the night. Michael Johns comes next - while not as good a voice as Freddie Mercury (who has? Freddie was one-of-a-kind!) it was good.

Everyone else falls into the middle of the pack. Some were better: Syesha and Chikezie. Some were just so-so: Jason and David Archuleta. And some not so much: Carly, Ramiele and Kristy Lee. Those last three are my bottom three this week.

Who is going home? Hard to say. America can be interesting voters.

Early Autumn

Early Autumn is the seventh book in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series, published in 1981. This time, the Boston private investigator is hired by a woman to get her fifteen year old son back from her ex-husband. But Spenser finds this isn't a simple custody situation - there is a major tug-of-war going on between the ex-spouses and the kid is caught in the middle. In trying to protect the kid, Spenser puts his own life in jeopardy.

I liked how we got to learn more about Spenser's past as he attempts to help Paul grow up a bit and be more independent and self-assertive. I also liked how once more Susan and Hawk play nice supporting roles in the book. While the middle section of the book drags a bit, the pace picks up again nicely in the last third as Spenser does a little less mentoring and a bit more detecting.

Comics of the Week part 2 (3/19/08)

the Brave and the Bold #11 - the Megistus storyline reaches it's second to last installment, forcing Superman and his evil opposite Ultraman to team-up. However, with George Perez' art on this issue (Jerry Ordway fills in), the issue isn't as powerful as previous ones had been. George should be back for the finale though.

Tangent: Superman's Reign #1 (of 12) - this new mini series revisits the Tangent universe, a place where characters have the same names as those in the main DCU but different looks, histories, etc. An interesting concept that was done about a decade ago. Things look kind of grim there and some of their heroes are trying to get home. The Justice League is going to have to help. This first chapter is intriguing.


Death of the New Gods #7 - this second to last issue of the mini series reveals that killer of the Gods, and two more fall! Can Superman stop the killer from going after the final God? Will he, given who it is? And what does the future hold? Next issue should answer these guestions. A solid mini.

Comics of the Week part 1 (3/19/08)

Countdown to Final Crisis #6 - an interesting narrative style this week. The entire issue is told through the eyes of this world's Buddy Blank, a tech at Project Cadmus who reports on the release of the virus that killed Karate Kid. In a way, it was good as it spared us a lot of lame dialogue balloons - and allowed the artist to really tell a lot of the story too through the images. As for the story, it looks like the Great Disaster is upon us - and it seems unstoppable.

Justice League of America #19 - this story continues to tie in to Salvation Run but this issue gives us some key details of what might be going on, from the government's angle.


Batman and the Outsiders #5 - I am loving what Chuck Dixon is doing for this team title. First Green Arrow on board last month and then we get confirmation of who the other surprise guests are. Give you a hint - the title of the issue is "Ghosts". I loved this turn of events and can see it make an interesting side mini-series for two favorite characters of mine that I thought might be gone for good a year or so ago (there's the other hint for you).