Tuesday – 30 December 2008
We’re back. Actually, we’ve been back since 4:00 PM yesterday. The flights were uneventful, as was the layover in Atlanta. It was a little warmer here than I expected. Granted, it’s still colder than in NC, but what can you do about that?

On the flight from ATL to SLC, we watched The Air I Breathe, loaned to me by a coworker. Neither SaraRules nor I had heard of the film, but we decided to give it a go. It was good. It basically deals with stories/lives of four characters and how they intertwine. It was interesting to see Brendan Frasier in another serious turn… and, again, another one in which he does a good job. If you get a chance to check it out, I recommend seeing this movie.

After coming home and unpacking, I headed over to SaraRules’ parents’ for a bit. We recounted a couple of stories of the trip to her mother. I also picked up the new TV and brought it home.

Setting up the TV also meant rearranging things in the entertainent center. I’m mostly done with that, but still have to figure out where to put a couple of things.

Four-Color Coverage
Over the last few trips to Dr. Volt’s, I picked up Fables Volume 2: Animal Farm, Fables Volume 3: Storybook Love and Hellblazer: Original Sins, along with The Sandman: The Doll’s House. Of those titles, I’ve read both Fables books and have started in on Hellblazer, which I haven’t really read in… probably six or seven years, at least.

Animal Farm dealt with the non-human-looking members of the Fables community and their… well…. Orwellian uprising against their human-looking brethren. When Snow White and Rose Red journey to “The Farm,” to discover why communications with between The Farm and Fabletown have broken down, they stumble into a vast right-wing conspiracy, led by none other than [spoiler deleted].

Storybook Love focuses on Snow White and Bigby Wolf, their search for a couple of rogue members of The Farm community and… could that be… a budding romance?

I’ve been enjoying the stories of Fables and recommend the series quite highly.

Hellblazer. How does one really talk about John Constantine? And, I don’t mean the version of the character as portrayed by Keanu Reeves in the (decent) movie that fortunately didn’t carry the Hellblazer name.) Possibly, the best way to do it is to take a few lines from “Hunger,” the first story:

He has been variously described as:

“The Aleister Crowley of his era, but more insidious.” (Guardians of Youth, media-watch group)
“A man of great courage, principle and humanity.” (The Archbishop of York)
“A cheap, flashy little crook.” (his father)
“Dangerous to know” and “A thorough bastard.” (Ted ‘Gold’ Digger, unconvicted acolyte of the Manson Family)
“A good mate of mine.” (John ‘Pearly’ Grey, Eastend autocrat of crime’ reputedly the only man feared by the notoroius Kray Twins)

Got him yet? No? A few more clues then.

Lead singer with the short-lived but brilliantly vitriolic MUCOUS MEMBRANE back in ’78.
Notorious occultist who spent two years in the bin after failing to pull off, in real life, as successfully as William Friedkin did on film.

No? You disappoint me. I thought you were street people.

For as long as this hack has been on the scene, people who know people have been talking about John Constantine.

He’s all of those things. Or none. Or some odd amalgamation of some of them. Hellblazer: Original Sins leads us – first, by the hand… before pushing us face-first – into the world of John Constantine. Sometimes, it’s the world we know. Other times, it’s the world we glimpse out of the corner of our eyes, in the dark. But, you can be assured, that when John Constantine is involved, it is sure to be interesting. And dangerous. But it definitely makes for a good read.

Stray Toasters

Time to find some (more) trouble to get into.

Namaste.