BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Saturday Short Stuff



In a comic book convention in New York, the line to get an autograph by Neil Gaiman was real long so I put it off for another time. After all, I keep going to these conventions anyways. You ask me what's the best -- San Diego, hands down. That is The Event. Someone asked me who was the first author I ever got to sign a book. Nick Joaquin, of course! A whole bunch of books too. Who else? Tom Clancy. As for comic book stuff the first ever was Todd McFarlane in LA. Then Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Ross, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, JG Jones, Stan Lee, Howard Chaykin, Joe Quesada, and a whole lot more. I used to get lots of them until a friend told me that it was better to get a picture taken with them. Maybe he's right. But from time to time, a sig will suffice. Pic below with fellow Ateneans Amanda, Nicole, Hub and Honey chilling out and waiting for people to scream to let us know that The Man is here.

So I wasn't able to get my Neil Gaiman autograph until last Thursday. My fave Gaiman books -- Good Omens, American Gods, and The Graveyard Book. Comics-wise The Books of Magic, Children's Crusade, Stardust, The Last Temptation of Alice, and Sandman #50 "Ramadan." Stardust has been my favorite and I still have all the original stuff as they came out. I love it too for Charles Vess' artwork. I've been a fan since I saw his stuff in Epic Illustrated and that Asgard story, The Raven Banner.

A CD arrived from northern Europe. From Swedish band, Koi. Limited edition of their debut album In Tomorrow Hid Yesterday. Heavily influenced by Radiohead and Opeth. At times reminds me of the forlorn musings of Sigur Ros. Not great but I will pay attention to the band and see how they progress.

Have been bedridden coz I'm on painkillers. Not able to write so I spent the day watching DVDs. Similarly-themed movies -- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost In Translation, and Up in the Air. I should pull out my discs of Garden State and Juno. Am writing some of my thoughts on all of them. They sort of tie up together neatly. And since I watched them, I brought out my Death Cab for Cutie CDs to play. Mood music. When I hear DCfC's "Transatlanticism" it takes me back to wandering around the boardwalk in Coney Island on a weekday in August. But I'll get down to writing that maybe next week. Gotta get back in circulation.

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