Sunday Shuffle #166

Doing the shuffle the other day made me remember how much I like doing one every Sunday. My Sundays don't feel complete otherwise (watching The Sports Reporters and reading the "What Are You Reading?" post over at Robot 6 are the other two traditions), so I'm going to get back to them. It'll take a long time before any songs get to double digits but whatever. So once again, the Sunday Shuffle...

1. I Wanna Know Girls/Portastatic (1)

2. Cavalry/Pela (1)

3. Cold Snap/Harvey Danger (1)

4. Rake/Steve Earle (1)

5. Valerie/Crooked Fingers (1)

6. Oliver James/Fleet Foxes (1)

7. Sweet Tooth/King Khan And The Shrines (1)

8. Claws Tracking/Spoon (1)

9. The Mercy Wheel/A.A. Bondy (3)

10. Whitey Hands/Saturday Looks Good To Me (1)

2010 Preview

One of my favorite parts about the calendar flipping over is getting all the previews as to what pop culture goodies are coming our way in the new year. Here are some things I'm looking forward to...

TV

Lost - The final season starts on Feb. 2!

Chuck - I love this show and it's been way too long since its game-changing season 2 finale. We get it back tomorrow night!

Big Love - How much more adorable can Margene get and what will Nikki get up to? Tomorrow night we get to start finding out.

24 - I enjoyed last season quite a bit and hope this season can stay that course. We'll see starting next Sunday.

Treme - The new HBO series from David Simon (The Wire). Yes, please. It starts it April, I think.

MOVIES

Kick-Ass - I read the first 2 issues of the comic and decided to wait for the trade. While that hasn't materialized, the trailers for this movie make it look like a ton of fun. Man, I hope so. (Apr. 16)

Iron Man 2 - Duh. (May 7)

Shutter Island - I liked the book it's based on (by Dennis Lehane) and I really liked the last movie Scorcese and DiCaprio did together (The Departed). (Feb. 19)

Hot Tub Time Machine - It looks supremely silly and will be a perfect movie to see while I'm on spring break. (Mar. 26)

Date Night - Steve Carrell and Tina Fey together? Sold! (Apr. 9)

Inception - The trailers for this Christopher Nolan movie have me very interested. (July 16)

COMICS

Scott Pilgrim - I'm not sure when it will be out but I can't wait for the 6th and final volume.

Planetary Vol. 4 - Last fall's long-awaited release of the last issue means I will soon be able to read the last 9 issues of the series (and I'll probably reread the rest of the series in anticipation).

Astro City - This year will see the conclusion of the epic "The Dark Age" storyline and the return of the book as an ongoing comic.

Adventure Comics - At some point this year, Paul Levitz will return to writing the Legion of Super-Heroes on a regular basis in this book. I'm nervous but hopeful.

Flash - I'm not in love with the fact Barry Allen is back, as I'm a huge Wally West fan. That said, Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul were awesome on Adventure Comics and I hope they can continue to produce at a high level.

Casanova - Matt Fraction has been tweeting about work on this series; I hope its return is accompanied by a trade of the second storyline, which I've still not read.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne - Grant Morrison writes (and a bunch of artists draw) about Bruce Wayne working his way through time to come back to Gotham. Sounds fun, doesn't it?

BOOKS

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris - I enjoyed his debut and am looking forward to the new one.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell - This is the follow-up to Cloud Atlas, one of my favorite books of the last decade.

Wild Child by T.C. Boyle - A new book of short stories from one of my favorite writers.

The Ask by Sam Lipsyte - I loved his last book, Home Land, and hope this one is as entertaining.

MUSIC

Vampire Weekend/Contra - I should listen to this over at NPR before I buy it. (Jan. 12)

Eels/End Times - Six months after the highly-underrated Hombre Lobo, we get another one? Joy! (Jan. 19)

Spoon/Transference - Can't wait! (Jan. 19)

Midlake/The Courage of Others - It's been a while since their last one and we supposedly get a bit of a different sound. (Feb. 2)

Jason Falkner/I'm OK You're OK - This has been out in Japan for years and it's been years since we got the Bliss Descending EP. High hopes. (Feb. 16)

The Whigs/In the Dark - They've put out 2 great rock albums; here's to a 3rd! (Mar. 2)

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists/The Brutalist Bricks - Really looking forward to this one. (Mar. 9)

Drive-By Truckers/The Big To-Do - This is supposed to be pretty-rocking but it's the DBTs, so I'm buying it no matter what. (Mar. 16)

She & Him/Volume Two - Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward back together again. (Mar. 23)

We should also see new releases from Arcade Fire, The National, and New Pornographers this year too!

Tasty

Back in the summer I started hearing buzz about a new comic book called Chew. It was from Image and it was selling out of its printings. I tried to get some later printings but it was impossible. I used an early Christmas B&N gift card to pick up the very affordable ($9.99) first trade, Chew Vol. 1: Taster's Choice.

Tony Chu is a cibopath. That means that he gets impression from whatever he eats, from where it was grown to when it was picked and so on. If he gnaws on flesh, he can find out things about that person. Why would he eat flesh? Well, he works as an FDA agent and sometimes it's helpful. Did I mention that this takes place in a world where the FDA is all-powerful because bird flu killed a lot of people and chicken can only be purchased on the black market? Yeah, there's a lot going on and I haven't even mentioned his erudite cibopathic partner Mason Savoy or Amelia Mintz, a saboscrivner (which means she can write about food and make the readers taste it) who Tony falls for.

John Layman (writer) and Rob Guillory (artist) have created a comic that is original, funny, gross, and interesting. After the events of the last issue in the trade (#5), I can't wait for the next collection to see where things go.

Definitely More

The first book I read in 2010 was Total Oblivion, More or Less by Alan DeNiro. After reading his story in Interfictions 2, I was looking forward to reading his debut novel and I was not disappointed.

It is a cracked coming-of-age story, where a Minnesota family travels down the Mississippi River in hopes of finding some semblance of a normal life after technology has failed and the Scythians have invaded. Sixteen year-old Macy and her family have to deal with plague, death, and the dissolution of the family unit. Life is very different (one of her brothers ends up being a talking dog) and yet life it the same - how do you deal with your family whom you love but who also frustrate you to no end?

The structure of the book is also interesting. The chapters tell the story from Macy's viewpoint but after each chapter is a small section that gives us the history of the Palmer family or bits of information about the weird new normal in America. One of those sections even tells of the death of one of the characters via a trial transcript. It actually is effective.

After reading this, I think I need to go back and pick up DeNiro's short story collection. He has become a writer on my automatic-read list.

Back Under the Umbrella

The first thing I read in 2010 was Umbrella Academy Vol. 2: Dallas. Actually, I started it on New Year's Eve but I read the majority on New Year's Day, so I'm counting it for this year.

This comic features time-traveling killers who were giant animal masks and are addicted to sugar, a monkey in a Marilyn Monroe wig, an interesting subplot, sibling rivalries, fashion, obesity, the death of President Kennedy, and the destruction of Earth. Gerard Way knows how to write a weird and fun comic but it wouldn't be all it is without the wonderful artwork of Gabriel Ba (who is adeptly assisted by colorist Dave Stewart). It's a blast and if everything I read in 2010 is around the same quality, it will be a very good year.

Incoming

My boxes of comics have finally arrived. Here's what I picked up...

Criminal Deluxe Edition

Ex Machina Vol. 8: Dirty Tricks

Jack of Fables Vol. 6: The Big Book of War

Scalped Vol. 3: Dead Mothers

When I'll get to read all of them is a mystery but I'm happy to stick them in the pile. Thanks to everyone who gave me Barnes & Noble gift cards for Christmas!

Snow Day Shuffle

The school system I work in started out with a two hour delay this morning but it didn't take long before they called the whole day. We have gotten quite a bit of snow the last few days but I think we could have managed with two hour delays both yesterday (when we had nothing) and today. I'd rather have the day in April than today, especially since this is the first week back and we already have a scheduled day off next week. What can you do?

I've been doing a little of this and a little of that today, including a nap. Right now, I'm waiting for the UPS truck to arrive with a box of comics I ordered from Barnes & Noble the other day, though I do have plenty to read.

Obviously, I haven't figured out how I want to attack the blog this year (the idea of writing about everything I read, watch, or listen to has already fallen by the wayside). I know I said I would get away from the shuffle posts but today kinda lends itself to the idea. So, here are 10 songs...

1. Uncovering The Old/Dr. Dog (1)

2. Sukie In The Graveyard/Belle and Sebastian (1)

3. Snakes of Hawaii/Army Navy (1)

4. What New York Used To Be/The Kills (1)

5. Impossible/Shout Out Louds (1)

6. Decora/Yo La Tengo (1)

7. Passing the Hat/Cold War Kids (1)

8. The Shape of the Sum/I Love Math (1)

9. Rhthm & Soul/Spoon (1)

10. On The Horizon/Sloan (1)