John Waterman

I just finished all four volumes of Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun." Absolutely brilliant, but it took me over a month to get through. It's very, very dense stuff, and on multiple occasions I had no idea what was going on, but by the time I finished it, I'd pretty much decided it was the best science fiction I've ever read. I haven't really read SF since high school, and it was a nice change of pace.

I saw Pan's Labyrinth last week, and while I enjoyed it, it really made me want to drink a lot of absinthe and volunteer for the international brigades and cap a few fascists. So I checked out a lot of Hemingway and acquired some absinthe. It's been pretty marvelous. I've read "In Our Time" and "The Sun Also Rises," and I'm gonna start "To Have and Have Not." So far, I've liked them all pretty well.

There's a torrent going around of the first episode of the new season. If you don't mind a giant HBO watermark in the middle of the screen, it's out there. I liked it quite a bit, although perhaps not as much as "The Stolen Eagle" for a season opener. Mark Antony in particular was awesome.

I grew to appreaciate the finale after dwelling on it for awhile. I was very disappointed, 'cause I wanted to see the anticipated gunfight SO BAD, but in retrospect, the finale did have a ton of great character moments, and did resolve a good many storylines.

I've still got high hopes for the movies, and am looking forward to whatever nefarious ways Team Swearengen come up with to rip off Hearst's new mining claim. Also, the guy he left in charge wasn't a historical figure, so we might get to see him fed to the pigs in Hearst's stead. That'd be something.

I hate that this series is nearing an end, but at least it's going out on a high fucking note.

Al singing The Unfortunate Rake!

Al leaping from the balcony to save Alma!

Ass-whooping and throat slashing!

Oh, and then there was the alternately hilarious and troubling expression on Bullock's face at the end: funny 'cause he looked like he was about to explode, not so funny because someone about to dribble some teeth in the thouroghfare again.

I'm actually kind of stoked at the two two-hour specials. Even now, when Deadwood's at the top of its game, there's still quite a bit of fat (most of the theater troupe scenes) and characters that I wish they'd they'd either develop, kill or drop. These specials might well be Deadwood at its leanest and meanest.

I read somewhere that HBO was having trouble justifying the cost of these expensive shows, because DVD sales weren't picking up. That's no real surprise as the things usually cost around $90 for 12 episodes after tax. That's two seasons of "Lost" or "24" right there.

I'm very interested in some of those Showtime programs y'all have been mentioning. I haven't watched "Weeds" yet, but some of my friends say it's awesome. Looks like HBO is in great danger of being toppled as the best drama network.

I'm glad to hear The Wire's coming back, although it wasn't my favorite show on there. It was very difficult to get into, and you really had to watch at least two episodes at a time to get into the rythm. I never watched it week-to-week, something tells me that would be an excercise in frustration.

As for "Big Love"...I've seen the pilot episode, and I hate it. This isn't the right thread for it, but I could write a dissertation-length rant on Mormonism being the single dumbest thing that has ever sprung from American culture. The fact that the show is adequately performed and written is even more irritating. Unfortunately, my girlfriend gets a kick out of it, so I've seen more episodes than I would have liked (e.g. none). And on a purely asthetic level, the concept is so damn gimmicky (hurr, he has three wives and impotence issues lol).

To think HBO shelled out for this instead a proper conclusion to Carnivale. Yeah, here I come, Showtime.

Jesus, I hope you fellows caught Episode 5 of the new season of Deadwood. That single hour was more compelling than the entirety of season 2. The set-to in the thoroughfare rivaled They Live for Best. Fistfight. Ever, and even the subplot with the livery managed to be compelling and surprising. Even the last few minutes were intense.

I cannot express how much I hate that we're seeing the last few episodes of Deadwood. Yeah, yeah, we get two movie-length episodes to tie it up, but come on! I've heard that only one more season of Rome will be aired, which marks the death of every HBO show I like. Ah well, that's what the DVDs are for.

Just about any moment that when Garth Ennis shot for sad and wistful. I'm down as can be on his recent work, but the man had it going on during his Hellblazer run.

Fucking blitzend.

On my way to my roomeate's bacheolr party. We're going to Memphis to behave badlty in a sleazy dancing establishment. There's a keg in the bathtub right now without a dent in it and I'm going to have to do something about htat. Updatews to follow.

Thanks, Josh. The problem with Enfields, I've heard is that it's more difficult to find one already in great condition. I've seen many old Enfields that have been "sporterized" for hunting, or rechambered for the .308 round (ugliest rifle I've ever seen). Mine was in fine condition and I count myself lucky.

SKSs aren't bad rifles at all, and due to the sheer number of them out there, it's easy to get a good, cheap one just about anywhere. I'll probably buy another one someday, but the one I had wasn't doing it for me. They'd replaced most of the wood with plastic, and the lighter weight kept causing it to shoot high. I could never quite get used to the thing.

My next acquisition will probably be some form of 9mm pistol. The pawnshop nearest me has a sweet looking M92 for $450, and I could probably knock some money off that from trading in my piece of shit Hi-Point. However, I've heard great things about the Browning HP and the CZ-75.

Anyone have any reccomendations?

I found a very nice No. 4 Mk. 1 Lee-Enfield at a gun show last weekend. I put thirty rounds through it soon afterwards, and am pleased to report that at 200 meters, one has to work to miss one's target. It's sights are set for 300 and 600, but we couldn't find a field big enough to accomidate the staggering range that .303 ammunition has.

I don't have a digital camera, so no pics. But it looks like this one, just shinier.

http://enfieldrifles.profusehost.net/

I got mine for $200. Anyone looking for a truly excellent rifle should definetly check out the Enfield. SKSs are good too, but I'd advise against riced out or sporterized models. In my addmittedly limited experience, they tend to shoot way high.

The only drawback to the Enfield is that ammo for it is a little steep, and a little hard to find. When ordering in bulk it's not that bad, but in Mississippi, retail .303 goes for $17 for a box of 20. Bastards.

Agreed. I love Preacher enough to forgive its weaker storylines, but Hitman is awesome all the way through. I think it was paced perfectly, and the shift midway through from silly, enjoyable gunplay to darker, heavier stories was very effective. Ennis spent a good deal of time setting up likeable and memorable characters, giving them history and wacky adventures before proceeding to tear them down. "For Tomorrow" "The Old Dog" and "Closing Time" have had me choked up each time I've read them.

The only criticism I can think of levying at Hitman is the inclusion of stand-in words for "fuck." But that's pretty minor, and it might have been a good thing. Taking away Ennis' ability to spew profanity probably forced him to concentrate on other things.

Like, you know, writing.

Can someone who's been keeping up with the "Barracuda" arc spoil it for me? I took a look at some preview scans, and the art looked terrible, especially following the great art of the the last three or so arcs. The plot also looked pretty lame as well.

I might buy it eventually if you guys say its good, though. I really liked The Slavers, but Barracuda did not look very promising.

A while ago, someone on these forums pointed me towards a program that would allow Windows XP users to play older games like Monkey Island 1&2, Sam and Max, Space Quest, Beneath a Steel Sky, etc. Unfortunately, I forgot what it was.

Anyone know where I could find a similar program? I've been feeling nostalgic lately, and want to load up some old Point-and-Clicks.

I sucked it up and bought a new PC recently, and I've been catching up on some of the games that I've been unable to play over the past few years:

Vampire: The Masquerade--Bloodlines: Good graphics, weapons, atmosphere and story combined with a few really inspired areas, but gets dragged down by abysmal AI and several useless skills. I liked that many of the quests in the first half of the game could be approached through diplomacy. A decent game that could have been great.

Medal of Honor--Pacific Assault: Solid WWII action, and great change of pace from war-torn europe. Lots of jungle, but the jungle is so damn pretty, it's hard to fault them for showing it off. Interesting AI, too. The japanese are terrible shots, and love bayonnet charging you, which to my knowledge is historically accurate. Cool near-death experiences, and some great battles along the way. Definetly the best MoH game since allied assault.

F.E.A.R.-- Very unsettling game littered with intense firefights. I felt the the "office" levels went on for a bit too long, but it's forgivable. The damn game's a system hog for sure, though. I had to turn detail levels down, and I'm running a 3 gig. pentium with a gig of ram and a 256 Megabyte video card.

Quake 4: Straightforward strogg-blasting goodness provides for an enjoyable but unremarkalbe game -- until a truly horrifying sequence that happens about midway through. Whoa.

I'm in the process of getting Oblivion and Call of Duty 2 right now. It's nice to have a fast system again.

It's looking like Mississippi will pass a similar law to South Dakota: near ban, except for cases of rape, incest or life of the mother.

There's one planned parenthood clinic in Jackson, and the operators have stated that they will get an injunction if the bill is signed into law. It has already passed the State House, and it looks like the Senate will vote as well. Gov. Haley Barbour has already gone on record saying that he will sign it into law.

Swell.

Hmmm.

Wikipedia says Garth's "Fury" miniseries was an elseworlds title. That doesn't sound right, especially since the same character keeps appearing in "Punisher."

Very interesting couple of letters, Christian. I'm not really familiar with the Marvel timeline. When did those issues come out?

Also, I think both responses from Marvel seem very callow. It is certainly not their job to stand up for all the ills of the world, but the phrase "you're entitled to your opinions, but we can't find the words to respond to them" is incredibly anemic. It's like saying, "We'd like to go off on you, but we're too scared of losing our advertisers." Surely an entire editorial staff could have come up with something a little steelier.

It doesn't come off well at all. Neither does their discrepancy between stating Daniels' letter was the only negative response, and then coming back and saying he represented a "wide cross-section" before getting all moralistic about censorship.

Yeah, and sometimes he's just...odd. Odin Quincannon, anyone?

Garth Ennis' sense of humor works best when he's making fun of British and Irish traditions/quirks, utilizing his irrational hatred of the French, tearing down superhero conventions or just letting the humor come out naturally when two characters are getting drunk at the pub.

I've gotta cop to being mildly amused with the scenes of Fury pushing his retarded nephew around in the zoo. But Fuckface was just stupid. Actually, the comedy elements in the last one were all pretty jarring, given the serious nature of the overall story.

"Peacemaker" looks like it'll be an interesting prequel sort of story, maybe along the lines of "Born." I'll definetly be buying the first couple of issues to see how it looks.

I've been playing through the Legacy of Kain series again.

Blood Omen: Great story and decent gameplay, but dated, dated graphics and load times.

Soul Reaver: Much thinner story, but the huge world and PS1 graphics that hold up even today make up for it.

Soul Reaver 2: Pretty graphics, awesome story with lots of cool twists that interplay with events from both Blood Omen and Soul Reaver.

Blood Omen 2: The weakest of all five games. Servicable graphics and big levels, but combat is too simple, and the story takes way too long to get interesting.

Defiance: Due to the ambitious nature of the story, the game is a bit more restricted than previous Soul Reaver titles. But you get to play as Raziel and Kain, and it's awesome!

Also, It took me awhile to get around to it, But Area 51 is really good so far. Duchovny's voice acting isn't exactly inspiring, but it really doesn't bother me. The action has so far been non-stop and well-executed. Very impressive.

Kronenbourg is awesome. It's beer for people who hate beer. Not that I could ever hate beer, even under tourture, but lots of people I know who destest that heavenly liquid still swear by Kronenbourg.

So I went ahead and drank eight or so. Oh dear.

Mike,

Thanks for all your great work on the title recently, especially the last three issues. I'd say they were just as good as "Rake at the Gates of Hell," my favorite climactic story of the series. I'm not sure if "enjoy" is the right word for it, but Cheryl's death and John's fatalism and despair were perfectly realized.

Anyway. One quick question, and one slightly longer one:

1. At what point in the Hellblazer timeline does "All His Engines" take place? I'm sorry if there's been an official comment on this before, but I don't think there has.

2. Issue #7 of Planetary seemed to comment that using Constantine to rail against political ills went out after the eighties and early nineites. Delano, Ennis and Jenkins all used the series to take shots at the tories and other right-wingers, but this theme was totally absent in Azzarello's work, and was used very sparingly in yours. I guess my question is whether or not you think "Hellblazer" is still potentially an effective venue for political commentary, or agree with Ellis that it's time for that has passed.

Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys) directed L.A. Confidential, which was written by James Ellroy. Incidentally, i'd thought Fincher was working on adapting another Ellroy novel, "The Black Dahlia," in which the victim is killed in a very similar fashion to the victims in "Torso." I don't know if he's still attached to that project, though.

Y'all aren't liking Loveless? So far, it's the only Azzarello thing outside of 100 Bullets that I've ever enjoyed. It reminds me of "The Outlaw Josey Wales," but much darker.

His writing style is much more restrained, and I'm actually enjoying his wordplay again as opposed to simply toerating it.

Just got back from a weekend long road trip to see a GWAR in Richmond, Virgina. I'm brain-dead, and sore from a few hits I took during the near-riot that broke out during the evening. I'm not really a big metal fan, but these guys were highly entertaining, and Richmond was a nice diversion from the same old same old. We spent the afternoon in an Irish pub down by the river, imbibing heavy amounts of beers that you can't typically get down south. The best part? I spent the week telling my friends I couldn't go due to lack of money. So my crazy Russian buddy, who just got a rather large check from the government for injuries sustained during an attempted run at boot camp, picked up just about all of my share. I never really do stuff like that, but he insisted, and hey: free road trip.

I think that everyone should see GWAR at least once. You haven't lived until you've been doused in the arterial spray from a decapitated effigy of the pope as a giant man wearing spiked armor that's twice as big as he is cackles on stage while attempting to play bass, duking it out with a bunch of strobe-crazed metal fans when you're 1,000 miles from home and have little to no bail money.

Actually, I have just been reliably informed that what I perceived as a "near riot" is par for the course at these types of shows. Awesome.

All in all, a pretty good New Year's Eve. Not sure how I'm going to top it next year.