words XXIV

Mike Carey’s Lucifer is quite simply one of the best comics out there these days. I’m quite sorry I’m only getting it in collected editions. I want more. As its a Sandman spin-off it always had the potential to be really good, but most other spin-offs have not managed this.

I picked up the first collection a while ago and I will admit I was not overly impressed. I was happy enough to pick up the second trade. That impressed me. It is generally considered to be in the middle of that book where the series really takes off. The third collection is just fantastic. You’ve gotta read them all though. They are all tied together and if you stick with it, you will be rewarded. I am eagerly anticipating the fourth collection.

So I picked up the Lucifer: Nirvana 48 page painted one shot today. It was a pretty damn good read with some really great art. The art standard is generally pretty high and it really shows the character as he should be.

A bad motherfucker but sexy as all fuck at the same time. He is dangerous, manipulative, honourable in his own way and he just exudes confidence, power, charisma and supreme coolness. Ah the word I have been searching for, presence. The man has presence.

The Angel Michael is addressing Lucifer at the climax of the story and I just love his line
“As always brother, you confound conventional mortality. You casually slaughter seven thousand people…and thereby you save a thousand million.”

A couple of pages before, there is a fantastic image of Lucifer walking through fire an enemy has cast at him. Its not a very detailed picture, but the caption along with his face says it all.
“Fire? against me.”?

Its just really well done. It is a damn smart book with a lot going on and a huge amount of respect for the material and for the reader. If you liked Sandman you should read this, if you liked the character of Lucifer from Sandman you have no excuse not to be reading this.

So it went well. I have a lot more options than I thought. I’m thinking about stuff. No comment for now, once I’ve thought about it I will post.

I have to be in work early in the morning. Springsteen tickets go on sale at 9.30 and I want decent tickets.

And I fucking hate people. What in the hell gives ANYONE the right to stop someone in the street and give them grief. Sure you can take note of the pretty girl sitting at the bus stop, you can probably even stop and enjoy the view a little but what the fuck gives you the right to bother her? Fucking degenerate scum. And as for the “people” standing by and just watching it happen. I fucking hope you are ashamed of yourself. Ignorant pricks.

I’m heading off for the afternoon to this open day. Hopefully its gonna go well.

I don’t know. Three little words can say so much or so very little. I don’t like them in quite a few contexts, I often hate having to say them. Other times I don’t mind. Right now I think I could answer any question at all with them. I’m pretty tired, I’m not sure why. I’ve had more sleep than usual each night for the past five or six. I even managed to sleep in late this morning and was late for work…again.

Gotta really work on that. I’ve been doing a lot better recently, but can’t just take it as it comes if I want to adjust my working hours.

I feel restricted a lot more here these days. For various reasons I don’t talk about some stuff here. Ya know when it was just me and the world it was a little easier. Its not that I’m hiding anything (well of course I am but not in this case) but I can’t necessarily talk about a conversation I had with a friend or some thoughts I have about someone when mutual friends of ours are reading it. Its just limiting. I suspect I’d talk a lot more about work, in specific some “interpersonal relationships” (blahblahblah) going on but its just not gonna happen. I guess I’m back to the whole thing of where I want to use this as a diary and write my thoughts down but I can’t let anyone read them. Yes, damn it I know I’m hung up about this. Fuck you 🙂

All of you blog more. I need something to read.

Work is kinda strange. There isn’t much to do at the mo and it is really getting to me. There is also strange atmosphere at the moment, I have no idea what it is but something just feels out of place. There was an event yesterday afternoon which had me close to hysterics for a few minutes and indeed the people who I shared it with were in the same situation but not really that much laughter this week. Although it must be said that one item makes up for a hell of a lot.

Went out for a couple of drinks after work with some of the guys, grabbed some food as well but an early and quiet night in all. I’m going climbing with some people on Saturday afternoon and I’m starting to look forward to that a lot.

Found a package at my desk when I got in this morning, I had completely forgotten I pre-ordered Blade II, so another DVD to add to the must watch pile.

I’ve been listening to The Rising, Springsteen’s latest album a few times over the past couple of days. Everything I have heard about it has mentioned September 11 in some way, how much it influenced him or that it is his post 11/9 album. Listening last night I only realised how true it is. I have absolutely no idea how to explain this in words, but listen to it and listen to his words and you’ll hear it too. I like this lyric a lot, its delivered so very well. From Nothing Man:

Buy me a drink and shake my hand
You want courage
I’ll show you courage you can understand

In particular the last line, listen for it. Its delivered with this unmistakable “Don’t mess with me motherfucker” attitude but done so simply it doesn’t need anything else, you just believe it.

Let me ask you something. Why does the good guy always have to win?

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but every once in a while why can’t we have a movie where the good guy doesn’t win? I was really hoping Insomnia was going to deliver on that. It was set up so that it could have worked. The good guy would not have lost per se, but the bad guy would have won. It would not have taken anything away from the movie, it would have in fact added a lot to the movie.

Is there something built in to the general public that they just can’t or don’t want to accept that the bad guys can sometimes win?

More on this later after I sleep and develop a more full line of thought about it.

I’ve just come home from seeing Insomnia. Not a bad little film at all. Again Robin Williams putting in a rock solid performance and toeing it with Al Pacino one for one. Given the great job Pacino did of playing a cop who is slowly falling apart after not sleeping at all for days on end, that is saying quite a lot. I think this the first movie I’ve seen with Hilary Swank and I can’t believe she won an Oscar for playing a guy. She certainly does not rank low on the cute scale. Unfortunately she didn’t have much to do in the movie and felt a little underused.

Some good stuff from the director and the script. A particular stand out which set up everything you needed to know about the movie happens pretty early on. The two cops from LA have arrived in Alaska and are looking at the crime scene. They want to go and question the girls boyfriend, he is still in high school. So they ask the local cops to take them to the school then and there and they will pull the kid out of class. The sun is shining and its pretty bright. The local cops just look at them and one of them says “now, its 10…PM”. It stuck with me, from that point there was no night, no darkness. Simple as that.

While I enjoyed the movie, it was not a great movie. There were a couple of moments where it came close. If he had just gotten back on the plane to LA as I actually thought there was a chance of happening this movie would have shot up in my estimation. Worth seeing yes for sure, anything special; unfortunately not.

Stop reading here Dave.

I am so very very bored right now. I have wasted the last hour or so looking into a bug that isn’t actually a bug. I need entertainment.

You can start here again Dave.

I’m listening to a Sigur Rios album. The title is in a foreign language that I am too lazy to try and read and type out. I don’t even know why I am listening to it at a the moment but I just am.

So I was talking to a friend last night. For the first time since I’ve known her she made some sense and actually had a helpful suggestion <g>. Anyway it was about me wanting to do a Psychology course, she simply said why don’t I go and do a course which will give me the minimum requirements. It was a good thought and I shouldn’t have brushed it away so much. Instead of going back and doing some school courses (which I’m just not going to do) why not have a look for some other courses with either less requirements or that cover those requirements. So a quick google has resulted in an e-mail being sent for a suitable course 🙂

Would the person using Windows 2000 with IE6 using BlueYonder as an ISP in the UK who has spent over 30 minutes is systematically going through all my archives this evening mind letting me know who you are?

Thanks 🙂

duh, it would of course be the person whom I just told about this place… Nevermind